Eloise Ogden/MDN For the first time, North Dakota’s oil production has reached 1.5 million barrels a day, according to Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

BISMARCK – North Dakota’s oil and gas industry will be having a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year as the result of new all-time highs in production numbers released on Friday.

Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, reported a preliminary number of 1.5 million barrels of oil produced in October, the latest figures available. This is the first time North Dakota’s oil production numbers have reached 1.5 million. In September the state produced 1.444 million barrels of oil a day.

North Dakota is the second largest oil-producing state next to Texas.

North Dakota natural gas production in October reached an all-time high of 3.070 MCF a day, an all-time high. In September the state produced 2.946 MCF a day. An MCF is 1,000 cubic feet of gas.

The percentage of gas being captured stayed at 82% for both September and October.

As of Friday, 53 rigs were actively drilling in North Dakota.

According to Helms, 95 percent of drilling now targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.