Bakken Production Held Back By Flaring

(You know it's a quiet day in the oil patch if I'm reporting on flaring. Smile.)

If I remember correctly, NDIC put in restrictions on producers to limit production if they were flaring gas. ( I believe that had to do with MDU's request to designate the Cottonwood Field a year or so ago: as part of the agreement, only so much oil could be produced in that field pending natural gas pipelines being put in.) North Dakota has one of the highest rates of flaring gas at the time I posted that, and NDIC wanted the flaring to be minimized.

There's an interesting thread at the Bakken Discussion Group : there is still a delay in getting natural gas lines put in. I have no idea if this is having a material effect on oil production, but my assumption is that in some areas, production may be held back until natural gas lines are in.

The Bismarck Tribune reported on the issue of flaring one year ago. At that time, North Dakota was burning off one-third of its natural gas compared to 1 percent nationwide and 3 percent worldwide.

In May of this year (2010), the Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company announced plans to increase its capacity by 33 percent.

Additional background can be found here.



Temporary Flaring in Dunn County, North Dakota (USA)