North Dakota oil and natural gas production shot up in August along with gas capture volumes, but the production surge is expected to fall back and continue declining by the end of the year.

Oil production in August topped 36 million bbl (1.16 million b/d), compared with 32.3 million bbl (1.04 million b/d) in July. Gas production climbed to 81.5 Bcf (2.62 Bcf/d), compared with 71.3 Bcf (2.30 Bcf/d) in July.

Globally, the pandemic and its widespread destruction of energy demand continue to affect oil patch operations, erasing the significance of rig counts and elevating the importance of well completion statistics, according to Department of Mineral Resources director Lynn Helms. He discussed the outlook during a webinar last Friday as oil prices in the state averaged...