80 oil rigs in N.D.
First rail-loading facility in state operating, another being builtBy ELOISE OGDEN, Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
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The number of rigs actively drilling in the North Dakota oil fields has reached 80. That's 30 more actively drilling rigs than the state's previous high, set in September 1984.
The North Dakota Oil and Gas Divison, with headquarters in Bismarck, reported that number on its Web site as of late Tuesday.
This past fall, when the number of drilling rigs reached 50, it was the state's highest number since September 1984.
Production is also increasing. The figure for January 2007 was 137,638 average barrels of production per day, which climbed to 156,356 barrels when the last production per day figure was listed in the Oil and Gas Division's monthly statistical update.
The amount in October 2007 was 125,000 barrels of production, which was the highest since July 1986.
According to the most recent monthly statistical update, in May, 4,026 wells were producing in North Dakota compared to 3,880 wells in January.
The North Dakota Oil and Gas Division, a division of the N.D. Industrial Commission Department of Mineral Resources, regulates the drilling and production of oil and gas in North Dakota.
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First rail-loading facility in N.D. operating
Because of the shortage of pipeline capacity in North Dakota and so much crude oil to get to market, some oil companies are finding an answer to the shipping problem the railroad.
Believed to be the first rail-loading facility in North Dakota is one now in operation at Stampede, a town near Columbus, built by Pioneer Oil. The Stampede facility has been operating for about a month, loading North Dakota crude.
Kurt Koppelsloen, Columbus, who manages the facility, said they've been increasing capacity.
"We did 2,000 barrels a day in July, we'll try to do 4,000 now," he said Wednesday.
Establishing a rail-loading facility at Stampede was a plan made by Pioneer Oil and Dakota, Missouri Valley & Western Railroad, Koppelsloen said.
Trucks bring in the oil from the oil field to the rail-loading facility and then the rail cars are loaded. A rail tank car holds 660 barrels of oil. Koppelsloen said most of the crude brought to the facility is coming from the Stanley and Van Hook areas.
Koppelsloen said the filled cars go to Flaxton. From there, other railroads are involved in getting the crude oil to the refineries.
The oil is being shipped mainly to two refineries, one in Texas and the other in Oklahoma, Koppelsloen said.
Koppelsloen is familiar with the oil field he worked in the oil field in the '80s. Besides Koppelsloen, the rail-loading facility has four employees for the seven-day-a-week operation.
No one lives at Stampede, which is only two miles east of Columbus. Koppelsloen said the rail-loading facility activity is good for Columbus and has brought some business there while the facility was being built and now the truckers who are bringing in the crude.
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Rail-loading facility in southwest Ward County
Another rail-loading facility for shipping crude oil, mostly Bakken crude, is under construction in Ryder in southwest Ward County. Eighty-Eight Oil, of Casper, Wyo., is building that facility. Ryder is served by the Canadian-Pacific Railway.
The rail-loading facility in Ryder is scheduled to be finished this month.
