Williston Herald's "Energy Chaser" -- North Dakota's Rig Counts Will Remain Low For Quite Some Time -- Helms -- June 20, 2022

Again, I can't say enough about Renée Jean's weekly column.

BAKKEN GETTING OVER A HANGOVER: 

Those back to back blizzards in April gave the Bakken a hangover, North Dakota Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms said during his monthly oil production report. 

The main part of the problem, of course, were the power outages, which put the lights out for two of the state's largest natural gas processors. 

Production losses ranged from 45 to 100 percent for producers, dropping oil production 20 percent for April to 900,597 barrels per day and gas production 19 percent to 2.445 billion cubic feet per day. 

County by county, McKenzie County lost the most per day, 67,000 barrels, followed by Dunn County which lost 57,000 barrels per day. Williams County lost 53,000 barrels per day and Mountrail lost 36,000 barrels per day. Divide County, meanwhile, lost the least, despite being hardest hit by the storm. They lost just 4,000 barrels per day. 

There are around 16 hydraulic fracturing crews working in the Bakken presently. 

Active drilling rigs are around 39, down from 44 week before last on Friday. 

The region's two largest rig suppliers have 14 rigs located in North Dakota to deploy — but it's taking them two months to secure a crew to train to operate them. 

At that rate, it will take a little more than two years to deploy all of those rigs. Helms does not expect the state to break 50 rigs this year as a result.