Charles Crane/MDN Nathan Anderson, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, speaks at the American Petroleum Institute Bakken Chapter quarterly meeting at the Hess Corporation Goliath Town Hall in Minot on Thursday.

Minot native Nathan Anderson, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, joked that he was worried about whether there were any attendants at Hess Corp.’s Goliath room in Minot who knew him from his high school days. But he said he was happy to be back in his home state after 25 years in the oil and gas industry.

Anderson was in Minot on Thursday for the quarterly meeting of the American Petroleum Institute’s Bakken Chapter, to speak on his outlook of North Dakota’s energy sector.

“It’s good to be back in my hometown. My parents still live over the hill – a railroad family and a farming family. My father grew up on a farm just outside of Carpio on the shores of Lake Darling. He also worked there for 39 years as a biologist and a game warden,” Anderson said. “When I look at this role, something that’s advantageous is that I have the experiences from a multitude of other states that I hopefully can utilize to help the resources here in North Dakota.”

Anderson said the industry and his department are in a period of transition in light of his succeeding former director Lynn Helms last fall and the prospect of friendlier policies from the Trump Administration in Washington, D.C.

Anderson said oil production in North Dakota has remained steady year-to-year with just under 1.2 million barrels, but the rig count could dip slightly in the new year due to mergers. Gas production has shown slight increases year-to-year, with a positive capture of about 95%.

Anderson said alignment of production growth activity and price was disconnected in 2020 with the onset of the COVID pandemic and shifted to shareholder returns, but it remains to be seen if a change is on the horizon.

Anderson said the first 60 to 90 days of the Trump Administration will be very telling for the industry, noting the pro-energy stances of Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior and former North Dakota governor Doug Burgum could open up leasing on federal lands. Anderson also said the price of oil could be affected by sanctions and tariffs leveraged against countries such as China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Russia.

“They’re all impacting the oil price, but I think there’s a lot of noise in the system right now. I think in 60-90 days it will all work itself out,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the industry has seen a large number of mergers among companies operating in North Dakota, which could result in near term impacts in investments in the state. He said it was critical for the Bakken to remain competitive with other emerging basins around the country for capital investment. North Dakota currently produces 8.9% of the oil in the United States.

“I am a little bit concerned about large multinational companies in North Dakota. North Dakota is really well positioned for small to mid cap companies such as those we’ve had for years. Hopefully, the rig count stays steady. But that’s what I see. It might take a year or two to work its way out of the system,” Anderson said.

One avenue Anderson thought North Dakota could take is continued research into utilizing captured carbon for future use in enhanced oil recovery. However, Anderson couched that by saying such enhanced oil recovery methods in the Bakken is not “ready for prime time yet.”