Oil production in North Dakota dropped about 1.9 percent in June, compared to May.
And the cause could be natural gas plants taken off-line for maintenance.
In the monthly "Director's Cut" briefing, the state Department of Mineral Resources said production fell from May's 1,198,086 barrels per day, to June's 1,175,567 barrels per day.
"Think about a diet soda pop," said state Pipeline Authority director Justin Kringstad. "You've got the fizz and the bubbles, and that natural gas is entrained in that Bakken oil. And in order to develop that Bakken barrel of oil, you're going to get that natural gas that comes up with it. You can't take a sip of the soda pop without the fizz. You can't bring up a barrel of Bakken oil without the natural gas."
Kringstad said during the early days of the boom, oil companies would just flare the gas, if the wells weren't connected to gathering lines.
"Today's environment is such that if there isn't an alternative interconnect with a gathering system to move that gas to a different processing facility, producers will choke back production and throttle back. That may also be reflecting why we saw that May to June production decrease."
Kringstad said some of this will likely be reflected in the June numbers, that will be ready in September.
Natural gas production fell 1.1 percent from May until June. And 94 percent of the gas is being captured.
