Also Being Reported Over At Rigzone: A Million BOPD By December -- The Bakken

The Rigzone is reporting:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that total Bakken crude oil well output will pass the 1 million barrel of oil per day (mark in December. 

Bakken oil production is expected to rise by 26,000 barrels of oil per day from 976,000 bopd this month to just over 1 million-bopd in December, EIA reported Friday. 

Once its production surpasses the 1 million-bopd mark, it will become the fourth U.S. region producing over 1 million-bopd in the United States. These other regions include the Gulf of Mexico, Eagle Ford and Permian basins. The growth in Bakken oil production is part of the longer-term trend in drilling efficiency gains; as a result, North Dakota now ranks second behind Texas in U.S. oil production, EIA reported Friday.

The production gains have also bolstered the state’s gross domestic product and electricity demand. Oil production from an average Bakken rig is expected to rise from 481 bopd this month to 496 bopd in December, the most of any of the six U.S. shale regions that EIA tracks in the report.

These regions account for over 90 percent of domestic U.S. oil production growth and virtually all domestic U.S. gas production growth from 2011 to 2012.

The entire US Williston Basin has already hit the one-million bopd milestone. The Dickinson Press is reporting:

The entire U.S. Williston Basin produced more than 1 million barrels of oil per day in September, driven by another record month of North Dakota oil production.

The U.S. Williston Basin also includes portions of South Dakota, which produced 5,017 barrels per day in September, and Montana, which produced 75,460 barrels per day in August, according to figures provided by Justin Kringstad, director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority.

“That’s what our rail and pipeline system is having to handle now,” Kringstad said of the record production.

Although a September production figure for Montana is not yet available, Kringstad said he anticipates it held steady at about 75,000 barrels.

Bakken oil production in North Dakota and Montana is projected to top 1 million barrels of oil per day in December, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

That estimate does not include production from other formations, said Kringstad, who talked to the EIA about the report.