ND hits new all-time high for oil-producing wells in August | News, sports, jobs

File Photo North Dakota hit an all-time high in August with 19,117 producing wells.

BISMARCK – North Dakota hit an all-time high with 19,117 producing wells in August, according to the deputy director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

Mark Bohrer presented the state’s annual oil and gas production report Thursday.

August oil and gas numbers are the most recent numbers available.

Of the 19,117 producing wells, 16,962 or 89% of the wells in the state are now conventional Bakken/Three Forks wells and 2,155 or 11% of the wells are producing from old conventional basins.

Bohrer said North Dakota produced more than 1.179 million barrels of oil per day in August. He said that was a slight 8% increase over July numbers and about 7% above sales guidance.

“We have been expecting this increase in production for some time based on the completions we saw in August, and that appears to have come true.” he said.

He said 1.148 million barrels of oil come out of the Bakken and Three Forks formations daily. That’s about 97% of the state’s production.

According to the report, three percent, or 30,643 barrels of oil per day, comes from the legacy pools.

Bohrer said crude oil prices fell slightly in August ($67.10 per barrel for ND Light Sweet and $76.68 per barrel for West Texas Intermediate). But, he said, crude oil prices rose slightly above oil sales forecasts, with prices on Thursday at $70.50 a barrel for ND Light Sweet and $70.68 for West Texas Intermediate.

Drillers said the state produced about 3.5 million cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas per day in August, up about 1.8% from July numbers. He said gas capture was at 95%, up 1% from July figures.

In both August and September, 100 wells were permitted in the state.

“We’ve been at this number for about three months now and that’s the number we think we need to reach for production to grow – the 1-2% we’re aiming for.” Driller said.

“The number of drilling rigs has remained constant. Today (Thursday) there are 40 drilling rigs in operation,” he said.“Despite all the mergers and acquisitions, our rig count has remained fairly consistent.”

He said about 376 wells were awaiting completion and 1,903 wells were inactive. This was an increase compared to July, when there were 1,771 inactive wells.

He said the wide swings in inactive wells from month to month were not unusual.

“Wells is locked up for a variety of reasons. “One of the main reasons they are blocked is because of fracking of offset wells.” he said.

Completions in September were 58.

“That was a disappointing number” Driller said. He said they were hoping it wouldn’t be that low. “There could be a delay in reporting – a delay in reports coming in. We hope that’s why.” he said. He said an additional 3 miles of wells could now be completed. It takes longer to complete, so the number of wells a team can complete per month is not as large as if they were all 2-mile wells. We’re going to start crunching the numbers on that and analyzing that data to figure out what the relationship is,” he said.

At the Fort Berthold Reservation, Bohrer said total production was 196,207 barrels of oil per day.

“That’s 3% more than last month, which is good news. It is down 3% over the last month, so it is relatively stable in the longer trend average.” he said. He said a drilling rig was actively drilling in the reservation. Seven wells are waiting to be completed.

“Our rig count remains stable due to mergers and acquisitions, but we expect it to increase to the mid-40s in the next year or two.” Driller said.

Exxon Mobil Corp. announced this week that it intends to sell assets in the Bakken.

“We heard that they want to sell some of their assets. I have not contacted Exxon. You contacted me for an interview. I just didn’t have time to go back to it. Until I speak with Exxon, I would not comment on what assets they plan to divest.” Driller said.

According to a Reuters report, a company spokesman and two sources, all of whom did not want to be named, said Exxon is assessing market interest in selling select assets in the Bakken, which include about 137 operating wells and 676 non-operating wells, as well as royalties on one well 49,000 acres in North Dakota. Once completed, the sale could reach a volume of up to $500 million. Exxon is one of the top producers in the Bakken, the third-largest oil producing region in the United States.