North Dakota’s Bakken Shale could experience up to 400,000 b/d of shut-ins for an interim period if a federal court hearing set for Monday results in the forced closure of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), the state’s chief oil and gas regulator said Thursday.

north dakota production

Lynn Helms, director of the state’s Department of Mineral Resources, made the remarks while reporting production decreases amid $50 local oil prices. Monthly production in the state took a bigger-than-expected tumble in February mostly due to severe cold weather and a regional Midwest power outage that caused rolling blackouts to be deployed in the heart of the Bakken Shale area, Helms said.

While the drop is disconcerting to state officials and their fossil fuel-dependent budgetary revenue projections, the fact...