BISMARCK – March was a good month for oil production in North Dakota, according to the director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

Nathan Anderson said the state produced 36.987 million barrels of oil in March or 1.19 million barrels of oil a day for the month. In February, he said, the state produced 32.631 million barrels of oil or 1.165 million barrels of oil a day. Anderson said this number is 8.5% above the revenue forecast and it is a 2.4% increase from February to March, or roughly 27,733 barrels a day increase from February to March.

Anderson said natural gas production was up as well with 106.6 billion cubic feet for the month or 3.4 BCF per day. In February, the state produced 91.55 BCF for the month or 3.270 BCF per day. This was a 5.15% increase from February to March.

“February had the extreme cold temperatures so a rebound was expected during the month of March,” Anderson said.

Oil and gas production numbers are normally about two months behind.

Currently 31 rigs are actively working in the state, a drop of one rig from February, March and April. He said there’s 33 rigs in the Williston Basin, with a couple of them working in Montana.

He said the rig count and frac crew numbers are expected to soften slightly due to the soft prices, which leads to some volatility. Currently, West Texas Intermediate stands at around $62 a barrel.

He said the number of wells completed is trending up for May. In April, 43 wells were completed and as of mid-May, 45 wells were completed, and 108 wells were permitted.

Anderson said the number of producing wells (19,128 in March) has rebounded from the extreme weather in February.

Anderson said production on the Fort Berthold Reservation is steady. The reservation produced 192,961 barrels of oil a day in March. Three rigs are actively working on the reservation.

He said they are seeing slightly more permits on the reservation. The active permits stands at 144, an increase of 16 month over month. The reservation has 3,003 active wells, according to Anderson.