April production averaged 609,373 barrels per day. That is up 33,883 bopd from March. Number of producing wells is 6,734, which is an increase of 93 for the month.
Stats on oil production from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources are here.
Production data from Alaska can be found here.
With April production in Alaska of 18,210,000 barrels for a 30 day month that is an average of 607,000 per day. That means production in North Dakota is very slightly ahead of production in Alaska.
Here is some data on monthly changes I calculated:
| month | change in ave daily production | change in producing wells |
| 1-11 | (1,210) | (36) |
| 2-11 | 5,865 | 24 |
| 3-11 | 11,409 | 125 |
| 4-11 | (8,933) | 93 |
| 5-11 | 12,721 | 29 |
| 6-11 | 21,844 | (16) |
| 7-11 | 39,351 | 192 |
| 8-11 | 21,046 | 201 |
| 9-11 | 17,359 | 104 |
| 10-11 | 24,510 | 142 |
| 11-11 | 22,272 | 109 |
| 12-11 | 24,679 | 139 |
| 1-12 | 11,285 | 124 |
| 2-12 | 11,935 | 114 |
| 3-12 | 17,235 | 194 |
| 4-12 | 33,883 | 93 |
There is some sort of anomaly in the data for January and March 2011.
The production increases are running very strong, particularly the last several months.
One oddity that I don’t understand is the number of new wells in the last four months is averaging 131. The number of rigs was 209 in early May. I’m wondering if that means the backlog of wells awaiting completion is climbing. If so, that would be a good problem. Unless you are a producer wanting to get the money flowing or a rights-owner waiting for your first check.
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