Did North Dakota Just Set A New Record: Daily BOE Production For Month Of October, 2017?

Updates

December 16, 2017: a reader writes, wondering when ND will start reporting new production records?

A few months ago I was impressed with how many wells produced over 30,000 bbls in one month in the Bakken.

We are now up to 96 wells that have produced more than 30,000 bbls in one month!

Well #52 and #73 on the list of wells produced greater than 30,000 bbls in one month are both EOG wells.

Thirty-four (34) wells in four (4) different counties produced over 40,000 bbls of oil in October. Fourteen (14) wells by 7 different operators in 6 different fields produced over 50,000 BBL per month. Three different operators in 2 different fields are producing over 70,000 BBL!!!!

December 16, 2017:  a reader writes me that US News made a similar "mistake" some months ago: "North Dakota oil production jumps slightly in August."
 

Original Post

 

Links:

• Newsweek: "up slightly" -- sets all-time record for monthly natural gas production
• Platts: "output jumped" -- highest average since August, 2015
• Oil & Gas 360: "approaching 2014 record"; "oil production jumped significantly"; both oil and natural gas production increased month-over-month";
• milliondollarway: North Dakota set a "boe" production record, despite near record low of active rigs, and 2,200 non-producing but completed wells

I could be wrong, but the Newsweek headline ("up slightly") appears to have been written by Barack Obama based on headlines from Platts and Oil & Gas 360. In fact, I believe on a "boe" basis, North Dakota has set a new production record.

The president was either ignorant of America's entrepreneurial spirit and the Bakken revolution already occurring or he was colluding with the Saudi Arabians and George Soros to kill the US oil industry


Production, crude oil:

• December, 2014, all-time record: 1,227,483 bopd
• October, 2017: 1,185,499 bopd

Production, natural gas:

• December, 2014: 1.51 billion cubic feet per day -- 1,510,858,000 cubic feet / day
• October, 2017: 2.06 billion cubic feet per day-- all-time record (2,061,895,838 cubic feet / day)

Production, boepd (this may be an all-time record; I often make errors, and I only checked these two months):

• December, 2014:  1,227,483 + 251,768 = 1,479,250 boepd
• October 2017: 1,185,499 + 343,592 = 1,529,091 boepd

Active rigs (see graphic below):

• December, 2014: 184 active rigs
• October, 2017: 56 active rigs

Inactive wells:

• In December, 2014: 
• literally, a handful of DUCs
• number of inactive wells too few to be mentioned by NDIC
• In October, 2014:
• 1,000 DUCs (rounded) -- increasing
• 1,500 "inactive wells" -- increasing

Competition for resources and investors:

• December, 2014: almost no competition from the Permian for resources
• October 2017: NDIC has remarked on competition from the Perman for resources  

Average daily oil production per well (see graphic below), link here:

• December, 2014: 105 bbls/day/well
• October, 2017: 85 but rising from an all-time "Bakken low" of 72 bbls/day/well

Price of WTI:

• first half of CY 2014: $110/bbl
• first half of CY 2017: $55/bbl

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Active rigs:

	12/16/2017	12/16/2016	12/16/2015	12/16/2014	12/16/2013
Active Rigs	53	40	64	184	191

Daily oil per well (last column):