Montana Oil and Gas Production Down in 2011

From May 11, 2012, edition of Rocky Mountain Oil Journal.

Data points:

• 2011 oil production: 24,089,901 bbls; down 1,234,901 bbls from year before
• 2010 oil production: 25,323,802 bbls

• Natural gas production was down substantially, down 15 percent

• Elm Coulee Field, Richland County: largest producing reservoir in Montana
• production from the Bakken pool declined about 3 percent
• Elm Coulee, 2011 production; 11,572,720 bbls

• Elm Coulee accounted for almost 50% of Montana's total crude output

• the decline may be reversed in 2012 as Bakken developers in North Dakota move west, including into Montana
• Heath formation is developing in central Montana