News
Oil production in December is down from November
Scott Wagar
02/18/2014
The North Dakota Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) have released its preliminary production figures for oil and gas production for the state of North Dakota in the month of December, which shows production in Bottineau County and the state were down when compared to November.
BOTTINEAU COUNTY
In November, Bottineau County had 548 productive wells which produced 210,828 barrels of oil and 26,181 thousand cubic feet (MCF) in gas production.
The county in December saw 546 working wells with preliminary numbers that show 198,438 barrels of oil that were produced and 25,127 MCF in flaring.
STATE
The state had 10,042 active wells in November which produced 29,293,592 barrels of oil and 32,557,686 MCF in gas.
In December, DMR preliminary numbers showed 10,015 wells manufacturing oil and gas with 28,620,049 barrels of oil and 30,731,240 MCF in flaring.
DAILY FIGURES
When you break these numbers down into daily figures for oil manufacturing, North Dakota went from 976,453 barrels a day in November to 923,227 barrels a day in December, a decrease of 53,266 barrels a day from the previous month.
Gas production in November equaled out to 1,085,256 MCF per day but dropped to 991,330 MCF each day in December.
LOCATION
Of the locations of the producing wells, 68 percent (6,803) are unconventional Bakken-Three Forks, while the remaining 32 percent (3,212) come from legacy conventional pools, which are pool formations like the Madison, Red River and Spearfish (which Bottineau County is in).
RIG-PERMIT NUMBERS
The drilling rig counts were up from November, but well completions were well down from November.
“The drilling rig count was up from November to December, but the number of well completions dropped from 138 to 119,” said Lynn Helms, director and regulator of oil production for the NDIC’s Department of Mineral Resources.
When it came to drilling permit activity in the state, December’s numbers were up with more activity coming when spring arrives.
“Drilling permit activity was up in December and continues to be strong as operators start late winter operations and plan for multi-well pad drilling during spring melt,” Helms said.
“The NDIC goal is to maintain a sufficient permit inventory to accommodate multi-well pads through the end of load restrictions as well as the time required to deal with federal hydraulic fracturing rules if required,” he continued.
The reasoning behind the decrease in oil and gas production between November and December was not stated by the DMR, but a reference was made about the difficult winter the state has seen, which no doubts plays a major role in production.