ND oil patch continues path of record production; monthly crude totals near 300K barrels

ND oil patch continues path of record production

BISMARCK, N.D. — Production in North Dakota’s prolific oil patch continues to grow exponentially, with a record number of wells drawing crude at nearly twice the daily rate of two years ago.

At the current pace, North Dakota is quickly gaining ground on California, the nation’s third-biggest oil producer, industry officials say.

Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said North Dakota’s 4,736 active oil wells pumped an average of 277,403 barrels a day in March, the latest figures available because oil production numbers typically lag at least two months. The state was producing about 150,000 barrels a day in April 2008.

The record 8.6 million barrels produced in March was up from the previous high of 7.3 million barrels in February, he said.

Production could hit 300,000 barrels daily this summer, and 350,000 barrels next year, he said.

“It’s not slowing down, that’s for sure,” Helms said Thursday. “Every month we’re setting a new record.”

North Dakota natural gas production in March was pegged at an unprecedented 8.6 million cubic feet, up from 7.9 million cubic feet in February.

Helms said 112 rigs were drilling in western North Dakota’s oil patch this week. North Dakota has had more than 100 drill rigs in the state since March. The last time the number of rigs in the state had hit the century mark was in 1982.

A record 146 drill rigs were working in the state’s oil patch in October 1981. But modern drill rigs that use advanced horizontal drilling techniques are up to eight times more efficient, industry officials say.

North Dakota produced about 79.7 million barrels of oil in 2009, up from a record 62.8 million barrels the year before.

The state has jumped from ninth to fourth in the nation in oil production since 2006.

“I anticipate we’re going to keep moving forward at record levels,” said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council.

Helms and Ness said North Dakota could someday catch California, the nation’s No.3 oil producer.

“If California continues on the path of discouraging investment and we continue to encourage it and as technology improves, it could happen,” Ness said.

“We’ve got a profile where we could actually reach 450,000 barrels a month,” Helms said.

Steve Grape, the domestic reserves project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy’s information administration, said California produces about 550,000 barrels of oil daily, compared with 635,000 barrels in Alaska and about 1 million barrels daily in Texas.

North Dakota is atop “the largest unconventional oil play in the U.S.,” Grape said. “North Dakota would have to double production to catch California — and it may take years — but it’s completely within the realm of possibility.”