Director, NDIC, Comments On December's Bakken Production

Kent alerted me to this article.

The Fargo Forum is reporting:

The state produced 768,853 barrels per day in December, a 4.6 percent increase from the previous month and a new all-time high, according to preliminary figures from the department.

Director Lynn Helms said the state added 123 new producing wells in December, enough to increase production as well as make up for November’s 2 percent drop in production, the first decline the state reported in 19 months.

Again, as noted earlier, a new metric:

Helms said he now can estimate that it takes about 90 new wells per month to sustain North Dakota’s current oil production and 100 or more new wells per month to increase production.

He also noted that he thinks rig count will increase in the spring:

Major operators in North Dakota have indicated they plan to bring 15 more drilling rigs into the state, likely beginning in May or June, Helms said.

That would increase the number of drilling rigs from Friday’s count of 182 to approximately 200. The record rig count was set in May 2012 at 218 rigs.

But most interesting, regarding the backlog of 413 wells that need to be completed (fracked) and referred to as "idle wells":

This spring, Helms said he expects to see more fracking crews mobilizing to catch up and reduce the idle well count to closer to 200.

At the link he also spoke about flaring, which I have noted earlier.