Bakken Shale

Rising gas-to-oil ratios (GOR) and a mandate to stamp out flaring in the Bakken Shale mean opportunity for the Williston Basin’s leading natural gas processor, Oneok Inc., management said Tuesday. During a call with analysts to discuss the midstreamer’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings, CEO Pierce Norton II and his executive team highlighted that GORs in…

Chord Energy Corp. has agreed to acquire fellow Williston Basin producer Enerplus Corp. in a stock and cash transaction that would create a company with a combined enterprise value of about $11 billion. The purchase price equates to almost $4 billion, based on closing share prices Wednesday when the deal was announced, noted Enverus Intelligence…

Oil producers in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale are facing the lowest natural gas prices in nearly three decades, according to the state’s top regulator.  Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Director Lynn Helms addressed the issue during a recent press conference. The price of natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline system at Watford City,…

North Dakota energy regulators expect a modest uptick in Bakken Shale oil production this year, though challenges persist around managing the immense volumes of liquids-rich natural gas extracted as a byproduct.  A case in point was the deep freeze on Wednesday (Jan. 17), which shut in about 700,000 b/d of oil and 2 Bcf/d of…

Shrinking volumes from gassy plays will overshadow higher associated output from the Permian Basin to drive a modest decline in natural gas production from key Lower 48 regions in early 2024, according to the latest modeling from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). In its updated Drilling Productivity Report (DPR), EIA projected 98.889 Bcf/d of…

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) recent round of fourth quarter oil and natural gas lease sales drew less industry interest than prior sales, but more producers picked up acreage in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale and the New Mexico portion of the Permian Basin.  The lease sales in New Mexico netted more than $22.3…

Natural gas production in the Rockies, like the country overall, is at vigorous levels this fall even as demand from western markets eases. The result: stout supplies in storage and soft prices. Mountain region inventories were 23.5% higher than the five-year average as of Nov. 24, the most recent storage update from the Energy Information…

North Dakota natural gas production hit another record high in September, with growth poised to continue as pipeline egress projects come online. Production averaged 3.44 Bcf/d in September, up 4% versus August, data from the state’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) show.  Producers captured and marketed 3.26 Bcf/d or 95% of total production, in line…

Natural gas gathering, processing and transportation remain a focal point for Oneok Inc.’s growth plans despite recently closing a major acquisition focused on crude oil and refined products. Oneok saw 12% year/year growth in natural gas processing volumes during the third quarter, CEO Pierce Norton said during a conference call to discuss the Tulsa-based midstreamer’s…