The Bakken Shale| February 2020
Field Overview
Named after Henry Bakken, the farmer who owned the land where oil was originally discovered, the Bakken Shale is located in North Dakota, Montana, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The USGS estimated in 2013 that this basin has an expected ultimate recovery of 7.4 billion barrels. North Dakota Department of Natural Resources put the breakeven point at US$62/bbl. The top formations within the region are the Three Forks and the Spanish formations.
State Drilling Statistics
Active Drilling Rigs in Basin-
Total Rigs in North Dakota- 51
Total Rigs in United States- 793
Total U.S. Rigs down 23% YTD
State Top Producers
Top Gas Producer-
Top Oil Producer-
Financial & Economic Updates
North Dakota’s Crude Oil Production Could Peak Within 5 Years
Crude oil production in North Dakota could peak over the next five years as producers will have drilled up the core production areas and will have to move to less prolific corners of the oil patch, North Dakota’s Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told state lawmakers. Exploration and production companies will finish drilling the core areas in North Dakota’s oil patch in the next two to five years, Helms said at a meeting of the interim Government Finance Committee. Oil production in North Dakota jumped last year as oil prices had recovered and drillers continued to drill in core areas. In the Director’s Cut release in January, Helms said that 98 percent of drilling in the state of North Dakota now targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations. He added, “Lower crude oil price, gas capture, workforce, and competition with the Permian and Anadarko shale oil plays for capital continue to limit drilling rig count.”
State Highlights
Whiting Oil and Gas seeks to expand crude oil conditioning in Mountrail County
Whiting Oil and Gas is seeking permission to expand its Lake Robinson Oil Conditioning Facility from 45,000 barrels per day to 65,000 barrels of crude per day. The $6 million facility is located 7.9 miles northeast of New Town in Mountrail County on a 5-acre parcel owned by Whiting and serves production from the company’s Sanish Field. Whiting Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs Ashley McNamee said the company plans to continue developing the Sanish field, and that necessitates expanding the oil and gas facility, which is the only oil gathering system it operates in North Dakota. The facility conditions crude oil at a central location using heat to reduce natural gas liquids and achieve the state’s required vapor pressure standards prior to delivering it to out-of-state markets by pipeline.
ConocoPhillips’ fourth-quarter profit plunges by 60%
ConocoPhillips’ fourth-quarter profit declined by more than 60 percent, to $720 million from $1.9 billion in the same period last year, amid weaker oil prices and production outputs. Revenue during the quarter dropped by more than 20 percent to $8.1 billion. Essentially, ConocoPhillips is focused on bringing in stronger profits and paying out more to investors while operating with flatter spending and smaller overall scale. The company’s shale production jumped by 22 percent last year. Shale volumes account for 30 percent of the company’s global production, led by South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale. ConocoPhillips’ rising outputs in West Texas’ Permian Basin are on track to soon surpass its volumes in North Dakota’s Bakken shale. Still, ConocoPhillips’ Asian, Australian, North Sea and Alaskan business units are more profitable than its U.S. shale output.
Refining
North Dakota Production
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