North Dakota's oil production fell just slightly in May, but still hit above 1 million barrels a day for the fourth consecutive month.
North Dakota, the nation's second largest oil producing state, produced 1.04 million barrels of petroleum per day in May, down about 1 percent from April, the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources said Friday. The state also produced 1.85 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in May, up from 1.83 billion cubic feet daily in April.
"Things are not changing, really to any extent at all," said Lynn Helms, director of the state mineral resources department.
The number of drill rigs operating in the state continued to climb and now sits at 58, up from 55 in May. The rig count has been climbing all of this year, exceeding expectations. The number of rigs hit an all-time high of 218 in May 2012 and fell below 30 for three months last spring.
"The rig count is significantly better than we anticipated this year. We really expected 50 this year, and we are running at 58," Helms said. "Operators have shifted from running the minimum number of rigs to incremental increases and decreases throughout 2017."
But Helm said if the West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the main benchmark for oil in the U.S., drops below $45 a barrel for more than 30 days, rig count is expected to drop. The WTI currently sits at $46.54 per barrel.
Helms noted again in this month's report that North Dakota contractors are having trouble finding enough fracking crew workers. He said they have about 21 frack crew workers, but need about 26 to keep 58 rigs running.
"In the last month the frustration continues," he said.
Looking ahead to the June numbers, which are released in August, Helms said the production numbers could continue to show a slight decrease, but said he anticipates the barrels per day production number to remain over the 1 million mark.
North Dakota, like the entire oil industry, has been grappling with low prices, which hurts investment in the state's oil production when barrel prices are below $50.
"Oil price weakness is now anticipated to last through calendar year 2017," Helms said in his written monthly report.
Patrick Thomas • 612-673-7740
