Another milestone for oil production in North Dakota.
"In mid-2024, we're going to reach 5 billion barrels of Bakken oil," said North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness. "It took us about 60 years to reach a billion barrels of oil."
That first billion came from conventional wells.
Ness said there's more oil in the Bakken that can be recovered.
"Somewhere down the line, technology and opportunity are going to align," Ness said. "We have the opportunity to extend the life of the Bakken another 30 to 50 years, and produce another 5 to 8 billion more barrels, just because of technology."
Ness talked about the use of captured CO2 for enhanced oil recovery.
The Vice President for Strategic Partnerships at the Energy and Environmental Research Center said enhanced oil recovery will be the big user of captured CO2.
"I think if we don't get adequate volumes of CO2 to our Bakken system, we're going to leave 90-plus percent of the oil in the ground," John Harju said. "We ought to be able to double the recovery that we would otherwise get without CO2."
Ness said he thinks North Dakota will need to import some of the CO2 from other states.
"We don't produce enough CO2 here in North Dakota," Ness said. "It's going to become a part of the management tool for all energy sectors. But for us, it's a little different — it's an opportunity that 's going to be there, but we don't know when yet."