North Dakota Director’s Cut Newsletter – January 2014
NDIC Department of Mineral Resources – Lynn Helms
January 2014 – Total Crude Oil Production 28,926,977 barrels = 933,128 barrels/day. The all-time high was 976,453 barrels in November 2013.
871,672 barrels per day or 93% were from Bakken and Three Forks Formations.
There are over 100 wells shut in for the Tioga gas plant conversion in an attempt to minimize flaring, but the biggest production impact story continues to be the weather. January temperatures were only 6 degrees below normal with only 3 days too cold for fracturing work, and there were no major snow events with 12 days of sustained wind chill speeds too high for well completion work.
Over 95% of drilling still targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations. At the end of January 2014 there were about 660 wells waiting on completion services, an increase of 25.
Crude oil take away capacity is expected remain adequate as long as rail deliveries to coastal refineries keep growing.
