Bakken production back on track this month?

 

The Williston Herald reports that oil production in the Bakken of North Dakota should be back on track following back-to-back blizzards in April.

It’s important for Oklahoma oil producers active in the play.

The newspaper reported:

Those back to back blizzards in April were a significant whammy to production for April, May, and perhaps even June, but the state appears to be on track for a 2 percent annual production increase despite the storms, according to the state’s top oil and gas regulator.

North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms

Imagetold reporters he expects June figures will show a complete recovery from the April storms, and that July will show a substantial increase in production. May production numbers were still 4 percent below the state’s revenue forecast, but prices were double, which will more than make up for that.
The oil and gas sector’s biggest issue right now is workforce. Job listings have shot up more than 30 percent, while the labor pool itself has dropped 14 percent. That’s made it difficult for companies to add rig crews and other personnel needed to produce oil and gas. The rig count is hovering around 42, 43 lately, but needs to be more like 55, Helms said. Hydraulic fracturing crews, meanwhile, number 18, but should be more like 25 to allow a slow, steady production build.
Source: Williston Herald