NOW READ OUR ARTICLES IN 40 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.


Vol. 17, No. 47 Week of November 18, 2012
Providing coverage of Bakken oil and gas

North Dakota posts record annual oil output — again

Click here to go directly to this story within the full PDF version of this issue, with any maps, photos or other artwork that appears in some of the articles.

James MacPherson

The Associated Press

North Dakota already has set an oil production record for the fifth consecutive year and the state is on pace to best the previous mark by more than 50 million barrels.

The state Department of Mineral Resources said Nov. 13 that crude production through September totaled more than 173.9 million barrels, up from the record 152.9 million barrels set last year. (See related charts on pages 14 and 15 of this issue, including the adjacent Top 50 North Dakota producers.)

North Dakota produced 21.8 million barrels in September, up from 21.7 million barrels in August, agency spokesman Alison Ritter said.

Oil production numbers typically lag at least two months. Ritter said its “pretty feasible” that the state will end the year at more than 200 million barrels, once October, November and December production results are factored.

Trails only Texas

Steve Grape, the domestic reserves project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s information administration, said North Dakota accounts for nearly 12 percent of total U.S. crude production, up from 1 percent less than five years ago.

North Dakota trails only Texas in oil output. North Dakota has risen from the ninth biggest oil state just six years ago with improved horizontal drilling techniques in the rich Bakken petroleum system, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks formations, in the western part of the state.

“No way has North Dakota’s oil production been a straight line,” Grape said. “The growth has been amazing.”

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said oil companies have benefited this year from more efficient drill rigs and favorable weather.

“It’s remarkable,” said Ness, whose group represents several hundred companies working in the state’s oil patch. “Bakken oil is going to refiners all across the country now.”

Three billion barrel mark — soon

Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, said the state has forecast oil production over the next decade.

The ability to move crude to market is keeping pace with North Dakota’s oil production, Kringstad said. Nearly half of North Dakota’s crude is being shipped by rail due to the lack of pipeline capacity, he said.

Increased pipeline infrastructure that could increase so-called takeaway capacity by 195,000 barrels daily is expected to come on line early next year, Kringstad said.

North Dakota began producing oil in 1951. Ritter, of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said the state has tallied more than 2 billion barrels of oil since then, mostly in the last few years.

“We’ve done some number crunching, and if we average 20 million barrels a month, we could hit our 3 billionth barrel in less than three years,” she said.



Print this story |
Email it to an associate.





Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistrubuted.

Petroleum News Bakken - Phone: 1-907 522-9469
[email protected] --- https://www.petroleumnewsbakken.com ---
S U B S C R I B E

Copyright Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News Bakken)Š2013 All rights reserved. The content of this article and website may not be copied, replaced, distributed, published, displayed or transferred in any form or by any means except with the prior written permission of Petroleum Newspapers of Alaska, LLC (Petroleum News)(PNA). Copyright infringement is a violation of federal law subject to criminal and civil penalties.

This story has 592 words, takes 1 min. to speedread and it is 1545 pixels high.