Oil plunge hurting North Dakota hotel sector

Williston, North Dakota

NEARLY half of the hotel rooms in the epicentre of North Dakota's energy boom have been sitting empty this year, yet another sign that plunging oil prices have cooled the economy of the second-largest crude producing US state.

Producers, oilfield service providers and other energy companies across the state's western oil patch have cut employee hours, cancelled projects and laid off staff, all hoping to weather the low-price storm.