Eloise Ogden/MDN The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources announced new oil and gas production numbers for the state on Friday.

BISMARCK – North Dakota produced 1,077,789 million barrels of oil a day in July, a decrease compared to the previous month when the state produced 1,133,498 barrels of oil a day.

The numbers released by the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources on Friday are the most recent ones available. The numbers normally are about two months behind.

The state also produced 89,122,575 MCF or 2,874,922 MCF a day of natural gas in July. In June the state produced 89,634,861 MCF or 2,987,829 MCF a day of natural gas. The gas capture percentage was 90% in July and 92% in June.

As of Friday, the price of North Dakota light sweet crude price was $65.50 and West Texas Intermediate was $72.61.

Twenty-seven rigs were actively working in the oil field as of Friday.

The state had a preliminary number of 16,881 producing wells in July. In June there were 16,844 producing wells.

Fort Berthold Reservation produced 236,638 barrels of oil a day in July. Three rigs were actively working on the reservation. The reservation has 2,590 active wells.

Lynn Helms, director of the Mineral Resources Department, said the drilling rig count fell 59% from January 2020 to July 2021 and is slowly increasing.

He said the number of well completions has been low and volatile since April 2020 as the number of active completion crews dropped from 25 to one, then increased to six in July 2021 and to 12 this week.

In July, 521 wells were waiting on completion. The month prior there were 680 wells waiting on completion, according to the numbers released on Friday. The current number of wells waiting on completion on Fort Berthold was not available at this time.

“OPEC+ reached a deal Sunday to phase out 5.8 million barrels per day of oil production cuts by September 2022 as prices of the commodity hit their highest levels in more than two years. Coordinated increases in oil supply from the group known as OPEC+ began in August. Overall production will increase by 400,000 barrels per day on a monthly basis from that point onward,” Helms said.