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Little change in ND oil production; gas production climbs

Eloise Ogden/MDN A pumping unit is shown in the North Dakota oil patch. New oil production numbers show little change while natural gas production climbs.

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s recent oil production shows only a slight decline, according to new figures released by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources on Friday.

In January, the most recent statistics available, the state produced 1,402,402 barrels of oil a day. December’s final figure shows 1,402,741 barrels of oil a day or 339 barrels of oil more than the new figure.

The state had a new all-time high in January of producing 2.72 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas and another all-time high of 15,397 (preliminary) producing wells.

On Friday, 65 rigs were actively drilling in North Dakota.

Five rigs are actively drilling on federal surface in the Dakota Prairie Grasslands.

Fort Berthold Reservation is producing 289,804 barrels of oil a day where there are 2,065 active wells. Thirteen rigs are actively drilling on Fort Berthold. The reservation has 118 wells waiting on completion and 420 drilling permits have been approved.

On Friday, the crude price, according to Flint Hills Resources, was $48 a barrel for North Dakota Light Sweet and $58.61 a barrel for West Texas Intermediate.

“Operators have shifted from running the minimum number of rigs to incremental increases and decreases based on gas capture, completion crew availability and oil price,” said Lynn Helms, director of the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources. “Current operator plans are to add two to eight rigs in 2019, depending on workforce and infrastructure constraints.”

Over 99 percent of the drilling in North Dakota now targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations, according to Helms. He said gas capture, workforce and competition with the Permian and Anadarko shale oil plays for capital continue to limit drilling rig count.

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