Spatial Co-Location of Oil Extraction and Agricultural Storage Infrastructure: Implications for Sustainable Land-Use Planning in North Dakota

Oil extraction and agricultural production are central to North Dakota’s economy, yet their spatial coexistence and implications for sustainable land-use planning remain poorly understood. This study conducts a statewide geospatial analysis integrating OpenStreetMap data, GIS processing, DBSCAN clustering, and spatial statistics to examine the colocation of 7,102 oil well and 4,277 grain silo sites. Hotspot and spatial heterogeneity tests using the Getis–Ord Gi* statistic and local Moran’s I reveal a pronounced spatial divide: oil activity is tightly clustered in the western Bakken region, whereas grain storage facilities concentrate across central and eastern counties. The limited geographic overlap suggests minimal systemic land-use overlap, though localized high-intensity co-location patterns emerge in McKenzie, Dunn, and Mountrail counties. These patterns provide stakeholders with insight into locations where shared logistics pressures and land-use tensions may influence sustainable infrastructure planning. More broadly, the study demonstrates the value of spatial data mining techniques applied to free, publicly available data for identifying intersectoral infrastructure patterns that inform sustainable land-use, infrastructure, and regional development planning across North Dakota.