Trains haul fracking supplies into the region and haul oil out of it. The oil boom comes at a good time: the railroads' mainstay, coal, is in a slump.

There's an oil and gas boom in North America thanks to an innovation known as hydraulic fracturing that extracts natural gas and oil from shale rock deep underground. Here's how it works.

A year after her husband moved to North Dakota's oil fields from their home in Missouri, Shannon Atwell picked up her four boys and joined him.

Richard Karpe had his first roughneck job at age 11, on a rig run by his stepfather. He talks about the roughneck life and its hazards.

The ban means BP will not be able to receive government contracts, loans or grants — at least for a while.

In any mining boom, some people are there to work in it, others are there to supply them. Need a knife in Williston, N.D.? Talk to Bobcat John.

North Dakota's oil boom has drawn thousands of workers to the state, overwhelming small towns. Rents are sky high. Workers live in barracks called mancamps. And there's not much to do besides work. One promoter brought martial arts fighting to town — the Williston Basin Blowout.

The company has started buying its stock to boost its share price and rumors are buzzing the stock purchase is a defensive move to stave off a buyout from a competing firm.

A boom fueled by hydraulic fracturing of shale should add millions of jobs in the U.S. The question: How long will it last?

The International Energy Agency is forecasting that the U.S. will become the biggest oil producer in the world within the next decade.