KINGFISHER, Okla. (AP) - Recreational vehicle park owner Anna States has had a full lot for about a year and a half, but it’s what lies beneath her land just north of Kingfisher that promises to turn her fortunes.
States’ Sleepee Hollo RV park holds 40 trailers and campers and is the only such lot in town. Two more are under construction and will open soon, but States said she is not worried about the competition.
“I could add 200 spaces and still wouldn’t have nearly enough,” she said. “I can’t tell you how many people call here looking for spaces.”
The Oklahoman (https://bit.ly/2sUEDD9 ) reports that States’ RV park typically sees seasonal business as migrant workers flock to town for harvest. But over the past 18 months, those customers largely have been displaced by those working in the booming STACK oil field, which covers Kingfisher County along with others in the area.
“Harvesters have been calling. They want spaces, but they only stay for about two weeks,” States said. “If I can fill them with people who want to stay longer, I don’t consider them. It’s not that they’re bad and don’t take care of things. They do. But it’s silly to turn down people who will be here for months.”
Increased oil activity in the area has boosted States’ business, but her biggest benefit is expected from the activity underground.
Companies recently have drilled seven wells on her land. Payment has been delayed because her husband recently died and the mineral ownership has had to be transferred to her. But she’s expecting to receive a substantial check any day now.
Still, States said she expects few changes from a life-changing payout.
“You can only spend so much money,” she said. “I’ll give it away. I have kids. I go to church. I have grandchildren in college. I’m not a person who really wants to have a bunch of money. If I can share it with other people, I’ll do that.”
Still, she might find a use for at least some of the royalty money.
“I may buy a new house,” she said. “I own a house here, but I may want a nicer house.”
States is far from the only newly oil-rich Kingfisher resident considering a housing upgrade. The town of about 5,000 is experiencing a construction boom. Two new neighborhoods are under construction with houses starting around $350,000.
While newer, larger homes are in the works, its smaller rent houses seeing the highest demand for now, said Margaret Phillips, owner of Mueggenborg Reality in Kingfisher.
“We’ve always had a shortage in supply anyway, and with the new growth, it’s stressed our market even more,” she said. “People need rentals. We’ve been very busy trying to accommodate people and help them find housing.”
The new construction could indirectly help renters and others new to town, Phillips said.
“Someone may upgrade to a newer, nicer home and put their existing home on the market,” she said.
Kingfisher is in the center of the STACK play, which stands for Sooner Trend, Anadarko (Basin), Canadian (and) Kingfisher (counties). The area is one of the hottest oil fields in the country.
The STACK is part of the broader Cana Woodford basin, which is the country’s third most active oil field with 56 drilling rigs, up from 28 one year ago, according to Baker Hughes. Kingfisher County alone is home to 20 rigs, each a mini-factory that creates dozens of full-time jobs and support hundreds more at companies that provide sand, water, chemicals, equipment, food and other goods and services for the oil-field activity.
Kingfisher County is home to drilling from companies including Newfield Exploration, Continental Resources Inc., Chesapeake Energy Corp., Devon Energy Corp., and Chaparral Energy Inc.
The companies have said they collectively plan to spend billions of dollars drilling for oil and natural gas throughout the area over the next several years.
Ramped up drilling activity has flooded Kingfisher and the surrounding communities with sales collections, tax revenue and other activity. It also has sent thousands of trucks to the community. Kingfisher’s Main Street lies along Oklahoma Highway 81, which for more than a year now has been full of oil-field trucks hauling equipment and products through town.
Oil field trucks clog Main Street 24 hours a day, leading to backups several miles long during rush-hour traffic in a community unaccustomed to traffic jams. Increased traffic also has led to car crashes throughout the area, including some fatality accidents.
The traffic delays can be especially difficult for companies that provide delivery services.
“Our intersections are horrible,” said Dennis Mueggenborg, owner of Flowers by Dennis. “It takes a long time for us to make a delivery anymore because we’re sitting and waiting for the truck traffic.
Increased traffic is both a blessing and a curse, said City Manager Dave Slezickey.
“Main Street is busy and full with both trucks and people,” he said. “Highway 81 has brought a lot of people to Kingfisher businesses, but now you have to look three times before walking across the street.”
The city is working to address at least some of the traffic problems by installing a signal light south of downtown and by adding a left turn lane at one of the highest-volume intersections, Slezickey said.
The city also has tried to encourage new oil-industry development while recognizing that the industry is cyclical and likely eventually to slow, he said.
“There’s definitely opportunity for growth and expansion,” Slezickey said. “We feel very fortunate to be part of that. But you don’t want to put everything in the same basket.”
To ensure the long-term benefit to the community, Slezickey in some cases has required companies to build higher quality, multiuse facilities before connecting them to city utilities, helping to ensure that the buildings could be used by other industries if the oil-field activity were to slow.
Increased activity in and around Kingfisher has sparked demand for many goods and services, none more immediate than food. The activity in the Kingfisher area has spawned several new restaurants, including new, larger Braums and McDonald’s locations.
Community leaders also saw a need for a new more formal, full-menu restaurant. To help meet that demand, Pam Rolens is set to soon open her new Stack Grill, an oil-field themed American grill and burger house along Main Street in the middle of downtown Kingfisher.
The Stack Grill is one of the few sit-down restaurants in town, and it eventually will include a banquet room.
“We’re anxious to get started,” Rolens said.
Rolens has several successful restaurants in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but she was attracted to Kingfisher because of the activity she has seen in the community from her son’s oil-field supply business.
While the restaurant is oil-field themed, Rolens said she is not dependent on the industry activity.
“If the oil business drops, our business would drop, too. But we’re not doing this just because of the oil business,” she said. “We’ve gotten to know the community. We like it here and feel a need for our restaurant here.”
Royalty checks and high-wage oil field jobs have flooded the Kingfisher economy with cash and filled its banks with sizable deposits.
“We’ve seen some awfully big money coming into the bank,” said Brent Henderson, president of the BancFirst’s Kingfisher branch.
An influx of deposits is not always good news for local banks. Recent regulations have made it more difficult for community banks to invest their deposits.
“Our loan demand is strong and growing, but it has not kept up with deposit growth,” Henderson said. “People aren’t borrowing money to buy cattle as much as they did four years ago. Loan demand is still good, and it’s growing. But it’s not growing as fast as deposits.”
Other changes, however, have been to the bankers’ benefit.
“Interest rates going up have helped,” he said. “I can put it in overnight money. I can go buy Treasurys with better, longer-term yields than just a year ago. We’re enjoying that part of it.”
Kingfisher predominantly is an agricultural community, but it also has a long history with the oil and natural gas industry. Today’s STACK drilling activity is targeting the oil-rich rock layers that have produced the area’s previous oil booms.
Some of the same families and farms that have profited from previous activity are benefiting again. The industry history has warned at least some Kingfisher residents to be aware that it could slow down again with little notice.
“I think the people who went through those times that are still here, and still have those leases, know to guard that money and use it wisely,” said Judy Whipple, manager of the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce.
So far, people in the community generally have been wise with their newfound money, Henderson said.
“I don’t think they’re doing anything crazy with it, other than maybe paying crazy prices for agricultural land,” the bank president said. “We’ve seen land prices take off. Ag land is selling at an all-time high.”
While not knowing what the future holds, city and business leaders hope to make the most of the ongoing industry activity, Slezickey said.
“We feel fortunate to be involved in it,” the city manager said. “We’re trying to work with all the new and expanding businesses, trying to help them find space where it may be valuable to them.”
The community also is trying to reinvest its new revenue.
“With sales tax revenue coming in higher than expected, we’re looking to put that back into parks and recreational activity for people to enjoy,” he said.
___
Information from: The Oklahoman, https://www.newsok.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.