Winter freeze causes steep fall in North Dakota oil, gas production: DMR

North Dakota's oil and gas production both fell by double-digit percentages in January on the month, according to the latest preliminary state figures from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources released March 14.

NDPA's oil production figures show a 13.5% drop to 1.102 million b/d, while natural gas output decreased 15% to 3.00 Bcf/d, Lynn Helms, oil and gas director for the DMR, said during the state's monthly production webinar.

"Winter can really bite here in North Dakota," Helms said. "All of that [decrease in January] was due to the winter weather," which he called a "very severe cold" snap lasting four to five days where actual recorded temperatures reached as low as minus 70 F.

But "as of today, we've probably fully recovered and are actually above December production of 1.274 million barrels a day, so we ought to be pressing that 1.3 [million b/d] number" soon – a level that has been anticipated for months," he said.

There are 38 rigs working in North Dakota in March, the same average in January and February, but levels are expected to reach 40 this year since operators' plans are to produce about 10,000-15,000 b/d more oil in 2024 and add one to two more rigs.

DUCs hit new recent low

The number of DUCs, or drilled but uncompleted wells, stands at 284 in the state, a new recent low, Helms said.

"We're below 300 for the first time I can remember," Helms said. "We essentially have no DUC inventory at all."

The Fort Berthold reservation, which supplies a sizable amount of North Dakota's output, recently produced its billionth barrel of oil.

And while Fort Berthold drilling activity is up by seven rigs, production was "way down," in January, Helms said, with 30,000 b/d of the roughly 172,300 b/d of declines in January coming from the area.

Fort Berthold production comes from 2,661 wells but the area hasn't added a producing well in over five months, he said, although "drilling is going on."

"A lot of that is from right-of way problems and getting gas gathering and pipelines in place," Helms said.