Bakken Shale

Expanding its scope with a series of acquisitions in the past two years, Tulsa-based NGL Energy Partners LP has acquired two salt water disposal facilities from different companies for $34.6 million that will give the company entry into the Bakken Shale.

Nuverra Environmental Solutions has signed a contract to build a 150-mile water pipeline and provide related services for ExxonMobil Corp.’s North Dakota operations in McKenzie County.

With production continuing to outpace takeaway infrastructure in the Bakken oil/gas boom, the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC) has launched an easement information resource for landowners and land agents, hoping to streamline the rights-of-way process for pipeline permitting (see Shale Daily, Oct. 2).

A coalition pushing for separating all liquids from Bakken crude oil supplies is taking its case to lawmakers, firefighters and emergency managers in North Dakota, pushing the process known as “stabilization,” or stripping of natural gas liquids (NGL).

As part of an ongoing national effort, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has given a qualified thumbs up to groundwater quality conditions in the Williston Basin oil production area in North Dakota and Montana, according to a study published Monday in the journal Groundwater.

The juggernaut that is the North Dakota oil and natural gas production keeps hitting all-time highs as oil prices and rig counts continue to plunge, and added state and federal regulations loom large.

Keeping a commitment it made to federal regulators and others, North Dakota’s Industrial Commission (IC) on Thursday released draft regulations for the liquid content of light sweet crude oil that is being produced at a robust rate of more than 1 million b/d.

Onshore independent Halcon Resources Corp. is slashing its capital budget and will drop almost half of its rigs in 2015, but production year/year still will jump by 15-20%, CEO Floyd Wilson said Tuesday.

Production of natural gas and oil from the seven most prolific U.S. shale and tight oil regions will continue to increase through the end of the year, reaching 44.12 Bcf/d and 5.26 b/d in December, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).