Bakken Shale | E&P | NGI All News Access | NGI The Weekly Gas Market Report
North Dakota Still Churning Out Record Production but Prices Falling
Oil and natural gas production in August again set monthly records in North Dakota, but the statistics belie falling prices since, a state official said Thursday.
Natural gas production was a record 93.4 Bcf (3.01 Bcf/d) in August, a 2.3% increase month/month, “the first time we have ever averaged more than 3 Bcf/d,” Department of Mineral Resources director Lynn Helms said during the monthly webinar Thursday.
He said 1 Bcf may get “ lost on people, but that is an enormous number. I think that is a really important milestone.”
Oil production in August also climbed, up 2.2% month/month to 45.79 million bbl (1.47 million b/d), also an all-time record. However, “oil prices have just moved south the last two or three months,” Helms said. Prices of late are averaging $41/bbl for Bakken sweet crude, nearly $6/bbl lower than in September.
Rig workover activity increased sharply, too, Helms said, and gas capture statewide had fallen back to 81%, but it lagged in the Fort Berthold Reservation operations, where oil production increased to 335,475 b/d.
Gas capture volumes were up at 75.5 Bcf (2.43 Bcf/d) in August, compared with 70.4 Bcf (2.27 Bcf/d) in July. The percentages for Fort Berthold were 75%, with wells awaiting completion at 161. Fort Berthold well completions have risen as the region awaits more infrastructure. Completion delays amount to about 32,000 b/d of not being produced, Helm said.
“Had we all the infrastructure in place to capture the gas and complete the wells, we would have been easily at more than 1.5 million b/d of production,” Helms said.
Separately, North Dakota Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad said the state during August saw more gas pipeline connections as nearly 1 Bcf/d of added capacity is underway.
“In August, we had two facilities totaling close to 320 MMcf/d of added capacity start operations, and in looking forward, there are still seven processing facilities on the radar, two scheduled to come online before the end of this year,” he said.
© 2024 Natural Gas Intelligence. All rights reserved.
ISSN © 2577-9877 | ISSN © 1532-1266 | ISSN © 2158-8023 |