Geoff Simon's Top North Dakota Energy Stories This Past Week -- August 24, 2018

Bakken longevity study: decades to go. If oil prices remain around the $60 per barrel mark, North Dakota can expect drilling activity to continue a few more decades based on today's drilling economics. If you click on this link, a PDF will download on your desktop. The numbers are quite staggering.

Production surge this fall -- Lynn Helms. It's all about natural gas.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

Click here and advance to the 28:30 mark to listen to the full interview with Lynn Helms. At this link, go to the "audio" and click on the "go arrow" and "manually" advance to the 28:30 mark.

Bakken gas production to keep growing. he rich natural gas from Three Forks and Bakken plays is producing substantial investment in natural gas production and processing plants in western North Dakota. 

Processed gas produced in the Bakken yields a bounty of natural gas liquids, amounting to 400,000 barrels of NGLs per day.

“There's a lot of value in Bakken and Three Forks natural gas -- it's better quality," said ND Pipeline Authority Director Justin Kringstad. "It takes years to develop the system. Investments in technology (over the last several years) are one reason midstream companies are coming on line this year.”

Kringstad said two plants are coming on line in 2018, and four more will be completed next year. And he said "in 2020 we may see more development.”

Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms said production and processing will continue to grow as obstacles on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation are solved.

Click here to read about steady rig numbers in US natural gas plays.

Click here to see the Energy Information Administration charts on August Bakken oil and gas.

Regional chool enrollment takes big jump.

• Williston:
• more than 250 new students joined the school district this fall
• preliminary figures show about 4,370 students are enrolled in this fall
• last spring: 4,100 students
• Watford City
• this fall: 1,813 students
• last spring: 1,531 students
• Alexander:
• student enrollment jumped nearly 10%
• this fall: 257
• last spring: 238
• biggest increase in the elementary grades
• Killdeer:
• this fall: 558
• last spring: 485