A Shale-Oil Boomtown Climbs Back From the Bust

WATFORD CITY, N.D.—Radio stations here are again running ads from oil-field companies seeking drivers and mechanics. A store is serving up an alligator-and-crawfish lunch to welcome workers from the Gulf Coast. New rigs are rising across the sprawling prairie.
Drillers are inching back to action in North Dakota’s Bakken shale region, a sign the recovery of the American oil and gas sector is spreading beyond the Texas and Oklahoma fields, where production is cheaper because there is more oil that is easier to tap.