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Page added on September 14, 2013
North Dakota Oil Production Hits Record High
Oil production in North Dakota hit a new record high in July as oil companies brought more wells online once summer rains stopped, the state regulator said.
Output in July jumped by 55,000 barrels per day from the month before, to just below 875,000 bpd, monthly data issued by the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s Oil and Gas Division showed on Friday.
Most of the new production came from the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations where drillers are using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technologies to tap the state’s massive oil resources.
Companies produced slightly more than 810,000 bpd of oil from the Bakken shale in July.
Output growth picks up pace every summer in North Dakota when warm weather allows for more drilling and completion work.
“A lot of (fracking) crews sat idle in May and June because it was wet and they couldn’t get frack sand to the wells,” said Lynn Helms, director of the commission’s oil and gas division.
But more than a hundred wells were completed – fracked and connected to gathering lines – once the weather cleared at the end of June, he said.
Still, nearly 460 wells were awaiting completion in July as companies continue to use a more efficient drilling method called pad drilling that is adding wells faster than they can be fracked.
Output will continue to march higher in the coming months when these new wells are brought online, Helms noted.
Some 206 new wells were drilled in July, all of which targeted the Bakken and Three Forks formations, according to the data.
Flaring Still a Problem
The state is struggling to control natural gas flaring as producers continue to burn off or vent the gas they find in oil wells in the absence of pipelines to bring the hydrocarbons to market.
The commission has announced its plans to cut the length of time companies are allowed to flare from a well and the number of wells that do so, although it is yet to outline clear policy measures it can implement without curtailing oil output.
North Dakota produced a record 9.7 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas in July but flared a quarter of that volume, the regulator’s reports show.
More gas was flared in July than the previous month after an older natural gas-processing plant, operated by Oneok Inc, ran into mechanical problems, Helms said. Flaring is a controversial process that critics say brings lasting damage to the environment.
Rail Blitz
About 67 percent of the oil produced in July reached its destination markets in rail tanks, the North Dakota pipeline authority said.
Most of the rail shipments reach refineries on the East and West coasts, including plants in northeast Canada.
But rail shipments of crude oil have gathered federal regulators’ scrutiny in North Dakota after audits revealed that some cargoes were not properly labeled.
The runaway train that was carrying Bakken crude when it exploded in Quebec in July was carrying oil that was not properly labeled, Canadian authorities said this week.
11 Comments on "North Dakota Oil Production Hits Record High"
J-Gav on Sat, 14th Sep 2013 10:12 pm
No shit?! North Dakota to the rescue! I think I’m gonna jizz in my pants!
As for “not properly labelled,” can anybody actually find anything “properly labelled” these days?
BillC on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 1:02 am
Thats it? All that energy(money) for a paltry 875,000 barrels of oil per day from all of thoses wells. Mankind really is screwed.
I prey that my great grand children can appreciate the sacrafics that I am making for them.
God Bless.
GregT on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 6:04 am
“North Dakota Oil Production Hits Record High”
And North Dakota oil production will reach a peak, a decline, and will one day run out, as all finite resources do.
We spend all of our time, energy, and money in this world, bringing up our children, in the hopes that they will have a bright future. Why are we working so hard, at leaving them nothing to live their lives with?
All finite resources are a one time deal. Maybe it is time to stop wasting the futures of all of those that follow us, on our own unneccessary ‘comforts’ today.
Norm on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 7:21 am
you first. :o)
Luke on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 10:29 am
The US shale “revolution” is a short term play. Fueled by short term capitalism not taking into account the environmental damage it will cause. It is also a sign of the time we live in. Short term profit by depriving as fast as we can the earth precious ores.
To keep this “business as usual” story going on we need to set records after records. But eventually this will be one of the many revolutions of decline hitting humanity.
Luke on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 10:35 am
The US shale “revolution” is a short term play. Fueled by greedy short term capitalism (Wall Street, monetary easing) not taking into account the environmental damage it will cause. It is also a sign of the time we live in. Short term profit by depriving as fast as we can the earth precious ores. And leaving the US soil like one big worm hole and trillions liters of potable water spoiled.
To keep this “business as usual” story going on we need to set records after records. The growth addiction of the western christian capitalism. Exactly 5 years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers we still did not learn the big lesson. Eventually this will be one of the many revolutions of decline hitting capitalism and western humanity addicted to it.
jmmpeters on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 3:57 pm
het begin van het einde….inzicht
KingM on Sun, 15th Sep 2013 4:48 pm
“Thats it? All that energy(money) for a paltry 875,000 barrels of oil per day from all of thoses wells.”
I know! A paltry 100 million dollars per day in oil. Most of us have more spare change in our couch cushions. Who could be bothered?
Harquebus on Mon, 16th Sep 2013 3:35 am
We’ll see how much gets invested after Ben stops printing. The global slowdown will also hurt.
rollin on Mon, 16th Sep 2013 5:06 pm
Looks like it is costing about $70 a barrel or more to get that production rate out of the Bakken. So don’t expect the price at the pump to drop much, all the new oil is expensive.
James on Tue, 17th Sep 2013 1:53 am
I wonder what the ROI is on all that oil? Why doesn’t the government demand that the oil companies capture all the NG and pipe it to where it is needed, or at least store it rather than flare it off. All that flaring is adding CO2 to the atmosphere, causing Global Warming to accelerate.