Drill Baby Drill

[Big Dog]

North Dakota oil production climbs upward


North Dakota's oil production continues to climb and set new all-time highs.

The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources reported Friday that in September the state produced a preliminary high of 931,940 barrels of oil a day. That amount comes to about 28 million barrels in September.

That also means North Dakota is 68,060 barrels of oil a day away from hitting the 1 million barrels a day mark.

The September oil production is an increase of 20,754 barrels a day more than in August.

Lynn Helms, director of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources, reported that 867,123 barrels per day, or 93 percent of the oil, came from Bakken and Three Forks wells. He said 64,817 barrels per day, or 7 percent, was from legacy conventional pools.

Gas production in September also set a preliminary new all-time high of more than 1 million MCF a day, or 31.8 million MCF that month. One MCF equals 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

The state also had a preliminary new all-time high of 9,682 producing wells in September, an increase of 207 more wells than in August. Of that number, 5,889 or 61 percent of the producing wells are Bakken-Three Forks wells, and 2,793 wells, or 39 percent, produce from legacy conventional pools, Helms reported.

The September figures are the most recent production figures available.

As of Friday, the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division website reported 183 rigs were actively drilling. The Oil and Gas Division, a division of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources, regulates the drilling and production of oil and gas in the state.

According to Helms, operators have indicated they plan to add five to 10 rigs by the year end.

He said the trend continues that no rigs are actively drilling on federal surface in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.

On Fort Berthold Reservation, he said 24 rigs are drilling and 115 wells are waiting for completion. The reservation has 1,055 active wells producing 289,330 barrels of oil per day. Drilling permits approved number 291. The number of potential future wells is 2,314, Helms said.

He said crude oil take-away capacity is expected to be adequate as long as rail deliveries to coastal refineries keep growing.

Helms' full report can be viewed at the North Dakota Oil and Gas Division's website at (www.oilgas.nd.gov/), then go to Director's Cut