North Dakota to Exceed California in Oil Production
Monday Morning Report, February 13, 2012
North Dakota pumped another record amount of oil during the month of December at a daily rate of almost 535,000 barrels, a whopping 55% above its output from a year earlier according to the state’s monthly report.
The new record is the first time that the state’s production has exceeded 500,000 barrels of oil per day. North Dakota’s production has more than doubled from 246,000 barrels per day (bpd) two years ago, and is now producing enough oil to completely displace the imports of crude oil from Colombia (364,000 bpd) or Iraq (422,000 bpd).
The number of wells producing oil in the state increased to 6,211, setting a new record. In comparison, California has nearly 58,000 production wells averaging approximately 11 barrels per day. North Dakota’s per well average reached a record high of 86 barrels per day in December, which is 56% higher than the 55 barrels per day two years ago. The increased productivity can be linked to the use of improved fracking technology and drilling in more productive areas.
Record setting productivity levels have put North Dakota on a trajectory to surpass both California (543,000 bpd) in January and Alaska (555,000 bpd) in February to become the Number 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 March; break the 700,000 bpd level by next August; and exceed 800,000 barrels per day by the end of this year. At that point, North Dakota’s oil could be enough to displace either Venezuela’s or Nigeria’s imports.
As a result of the ongoing oil boom in the Bakken area, North Dakota continues to lead the nation with the lowest state unemployment rate at 3.3% for December, five full percentage points below the nation’s average 8.3% rate for December. There are 16 North Dakota counties with jobless rates at or below 3% for December, and Williams County, which is at the center of the Bakken oil boom, boasts the lowest county jobless rate in the country at just 1%.
The ongoing record setting oil production in North Dakota continues to make it the most economically successful state in the country, with record levels of employment and income growth, increasing tax revenues, the lowest foreclosure rate in the country, a strong real estate market, and jobless rates in many counties of the Bakken region below 3%.
