Oil Production in the North Dakota Bakken is on the Rise

Amy Dalrymple of the Bismarck Tribune wrote an article about how North Dakota oil production is increasing. Below is a summary of her article; N.D. oil production moves into growth mode. 

North Dakota oil production was up 1 percent in November of 2017 to 1.19 million barrels per day. Oil production in the first half of 2018 is expected to exceed the high of 1.23 million barrels per day set in December of 2014. While oil prices were low, drillers focused on the core area of the Bakken where wells were most profitable.

Areas that were on the fringe in the ND Bakken are now attractive to oil drillers because of the increase in oil prices. Divide, Burke and northern Williams’ counties will see additional drilling rigs this year. Currently, Divide has no drilling rigs and Burke has one; there are 57 drilling rigs operating in the state as of Tuesday January 16, 2018. The number of rigs is expected to grow by 10 later in 2018.

Natural gas production also increased in November 2017 to 2.1 billion cubic feet per day and the industry flared less natural gas in November 2017. In November of 2017, North Dakota had a total of 14,492 producing oil and gas wells, which was a record for the state.

However, there is concern over the number of inactive wells which increased during November 2017 to 1,492, even though oil prices have increased, companies have not brought those wells back online. North Dakota also had 883 wells during November 2017 that were drilled and waiting for hydraulic fracking crews. During the month of November 2017 close to 75 percent of North Dakota’s oil was transported by pipeline with 11 percent by transported by rail.

Source: Paul Thares, iGrow