North Dakota’s oil production continues to inch closer to the one-million-barrel-a-day mark.
In February, the North Dakota portion of the Williston Basin was producing more than 951,000 barrels of oil a day. That’s an increase from January’s 935,000 barrels a day mark. There are 191 rigs working in the Bakken. And state mineral resources director Lynn Helms says he expects that count to remain somewhere around 195 rigs.
“A part of the Bakken-Three Forks play has the best rate of return of any of the shale basins, in terms of oil and gas production," said Helms at his monthly "Director's Cut" briefing. "It's a rectangle from Watford City to Ray to Stanley and down to Killdder. Out of the 191 rigs operating now, 140 are in that little rectangle.”
Helms says natural gas flaring remained steady at 36 percent. But he says with the Hess processing plant and Tioga coming back on line, that number should drop to under 25 percent.
