Director's Cut Posted -- July, 2020, Data

Updates

September 16, 2020:

Link here. Renee Jean of The Williston Herald gets the byline but the link is to The Bismarck Tribune. Archived.

North Dakota oil production regains million barrel mark.

• RENEE JEAN Williston Herald
• 10 hrs ago

North Dakota reported 1.04 million barrels of crude oil per day for July and nearly 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas production. The state also reported a 91% gas capture rate.

That represents a 16.5% increase in production for both oil and gas, and a 19% increase in gas capture volumes.

But there haven’t been enough new well completions to make these production gains sustainable, North Dakota Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms said. 

It takes around 70 new wells per month to sustain production in the range of 1.25 million barrels per day. In May, however, just 12 wells were completed, Helms said. In June, 37 were completed and in July 59.

Original Post

Disclaimer: the usual disclaimer applies. This is done quickly and there will be content and typographical errors. Facts are interspersed with comments and opinions. I often make simple arithmetic errors. If this is important to you, go to the source.

Link here.  

Crude oil production:

• July, 2020: 1,040,388 bopd (preliminary)
• June, 2020: 893,591(final)
• increase, month-over-month: 146,797 bopd
• increase, month-over-month: +16.4%
• what's that I head about rig counts? and, 
• wells drilled to depth, and not completed?

Rig count:

• today: 10 (=1CCUS and +SFI)
• August: 12
  
• July, 2020: 11
• June, 2020: 12
• wow, wow, wow, what do you know?
• rigs decreased by 9% month-over-month, and yet,
• production of crude oil increased by 16.4% month-over-month; and,
• natural gas production increased by 16.6%, and yet,
• the number of rigs actually decreased;
• not only that, with a greater than 9% decrease in rig count,
• operators completed 59 wells in July, but only 37 wells in June, or,
• a 59% increase in number of completed wells, despite,
• a 9% decrease in the number of rigs
• we've been told this isn't supposed to happen
  

Producing wells:

• July, 2020: 14,406
• June, 2020: 13,188

Wells completed in each month:

• July, 2020: 59 (preliminary)
• June, 2020: 37 (revised)

Wells waiting on completion:

• July, 2020: 878
• June, 2020: 899

Wells, inactive:

• July, 2020: 3,762
• June, 2020: 4,214

Crude oil, price:

• Today: $29.25
• August, 2020: $32.91
• July, 2020: $31.69
• June, 2020: $32.35

Natural gas production:

• July, 2020: 2,297,510 MCF/day (preliminary)
• June, 2020: 1,971,816 MCF/day (final)
• increase, month-over-month: 325,694 MF/day
• increase, month-over-month: 16.6%
• despite a 16.6% production increase in natural gas, the percent captured actually increased (see below)
  

Flaring, natural gas capture, percent

• July, 2020: 91%
• June, 2020: 89%
• despite a significant increase in the amount of natural gas produced, the percent of natural gas actually increased

Anyone remember the state's statewide goal for natural gas capture? yup, 91% by November 1, 2020. Looks like (at least for this month), that goal was reached five months early. 

DUCs and wells off-line for operational reasons are tracked here.

*******************************
Wells Off Line For Operational Reasons

July, 2020:

• DUCs: 878
• inactive well count: 3,762
• total off line for operational reasons: 4,640
  

June, 2020:

• DUCs: 899
• inactive well count: 4,214
• total off line for operational reasons: 5,113

May, 2020:

• DUCs: 962
• inactive well count: 6,108
• total off line for operational reasons: 7,070