North Dakota energy officials admit they were not surprised at the startling news this week that their state had suffered its largest monthly decline in oil production in state history. This despite its record production in the past few years because of the massive development of the Bakken play.
“We were expecting a large production drop and it arrived,” said Lynn Helms, director of North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources. “We are at a record level of inactive wells.”
The state’s oil production dropped by 70,000 barrels a day in April. It came as the state’s active oil rig count dropped from 29 in April to 27 in May which is the lowest count since the summer of 2005.
The Williston Basin in western North Dakota, has no oil drilling rigs currently active.
“We haven’t seen that since October of 2008,” added Helms. The state’s peak oil production was in December 2014 at 1.23 M/bpd. Known as the second-largest oil producing state n the nation, North Dakota produced 1.04 M/bpd in April, down from 1.11 M/bpd in March.
Helms predicts production will likely drop to below 1 million barrels before the end of the year.
