North Dakota Oil Production Continues Up Past 500K BPD

Both Mark Perry and Brian Wang have pointed out that North Dakota oil production is now above a half million barrels per day, and rising. This is something that none of the archbishops of peak oil prognostication predicted, for all of their amazing foresight.

CarpeDiem

1. The number of wells producing oil in the state increased to 6,060, which sets a new record, and exceeds 6,000 wells for the first time ever.

2. The amount of oil produced per well also reached a record high of 84 barrels per day in November, which is 50% higher than the 55 barrels per day two years ago, and probably reflects both increasing productivity from fracking technology and drilling in more productive areas.

3. The combination of a record number of wells producing oil at record-setting productivity levels has put North Dakota on a trajectory to surpass both California (539,000 barrels per day) and Alaska (555,000 bpd) this year to become the No. 2 oil-producing state in the U.S. At the current pace of record-setting monthly gains, North Dakota's oil production is currently on track to break the 600,000 barrels per day level by next March, break the 700,000 level by next August, and exceed 800,000 barrels per day by the end of this year. At that point, North Dakota oil could be enough to displace either Venezuela's or Nigeria's imports.

4. North Dakota's oil production has now surpassed OPEC-member Ecuador's daily production _CarpeDiem

NextBigFuture

North Dakota had another oil production record for November, 2011 with 509,754 barrels of oil per day which was 22,000 barrels of oil per day more than the previous month. It was almost 170,000 barrels of oil per day more than the beginning of the 2011. If December had a comparable increase then North Dakota will have increased oil production by about 50%. _Brian Wang

PDF report with more information

146 pp PDF report with extensive county level detail (h/t NBF)

No one knows when North Dakota will hit its production peak, or how high it will go. As badly as President Obama would like to shut down all shale oil & gas out of a strong desire for energy starvation, even he understands that the US economy -- and his own political future -- are only hanging on by a thread. Obama must grit his teeth, make his excuses to his faux environmentalist backers, and allow at least some parts of the US to experience a bit of prosperity.