Bakken

Equinor ASA continued to advance its worldwide energy portfolio during 2020, with a long-term strategy set on becoming a net-zero emissions leader relying less on fossil fuels. The management team held court with analysts and investors on Wednesday to share results for 2020 and the outlook going forward. Mirroring comments made by Big Energy CEOs…

Bakken Midstream Natural Gas LLC is considering developing a dual-fuel electric cooperative power plant in North Dakota that would primarily operate on ethane, with natural gas also in the fuel mix. Bakken Midstream is proposing to build the Williston Basin Energy Center for Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative near Williston, ND, in the heart of the Bakken…

The voluntary bankruptcies by U.S. exploration operators have continued to mount, with Lower 48 oil production by the insolvent companies set to decrease from current volumes by around 25%, or 200,000 b/d, at the end of 2021, according to a Rystad Energy analysis. “Operated oil production from the recent Chapter 11 filings is heavily weighted…

North Dakota’s Industrial Commission (IC) has asked the state legislature to authorize pursuing options to add oil and natural gas storage for the Bakken Shale. The governor-led commission “pre-filed a bill for next year’s legislature to take on permitting of oil, gas and natural gas liquids storage,” said Department of Mineral Resources director Lynn Helms.…

Oil production in the Bakken Shale during October remained flat month/month at 1.22 million b/d while natural gas output increased by 2% to 89 Bcf, the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) reported Monday. Oil production levels are not likely to grow until 2022, DMR director Lynn Helms said during a monthly webinar. “The…

Even with a brief cold blast sneaking back into the December forecast, natural gas futures moved lower again on Tuesday. With a key spread flipping to negative, traders appeared to have closed the book on winter with weeks to go before the first verse of Auld Lang Syne is sung.  The January Nymex contract settled…

Natural gas venting and flaring in the United States reached an all-time high of 1.48 Bcf/d in 2019, with North Dakota and Texas accounting for 85% of the total, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday. Vented/flared gas accounted for 1.3% of gross gas withdrawals nationwide, also a record, EIA researchers said. “As crude oil…

North Dakota officials estimate that 25% of the Bakken Shale’s output could be negatively impacted by a change in energy policy under President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., threatening the 7,000 state-drawn, two-square-mile spacing units that contain all of the state’s future drilling sites. Nearly half (48%) of those units include federal-owned land and/or mineral rights,…

North Dakota’s operators have achieved a 93% natural gas capture rate statewide in September, when month/month oil and gas production increased.  In the state’s Bakken Shale, home of robust supplies of sweet light crude oil that is rich with associated gas, flaring has been excessive as production growth outpaced efforts to build sufficient midstream takeaway…