Crude oil production averaged 1,113,410 barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in September 2021.
Production has been in the range of 1.1 or 1.2 million BOPD since August 2020. Production was 1.44M BOPD back in March 2020 before the pandemic hit. Production quickly dropped to 0.9M in both May and June 2020 before climbing to around 1.1M since then.
Graph at the top of this post shows average production since January 2008. The blue line is total production in the state with the red line showing production from the Bakken pool only, which also includes the Sanish, and Three Forks pools. The blue line essentially excludes the old wells and areas which have been in production since before the current boom started in the 2008 timeframe. You can easily see the radical impact of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
For a longer-term perspective, check out the average production in the state since 1990:
The Director’s Cut report for September 2021 reveals to me why production has not been rising as well prices are increasing. The number of completion crews was 25 before the pandemic kicked in and then dropped to a low of one. Tally of completion crews rose to six in August 2021 and stands at 10 at the middle of November 2021.
Could oil prices dropped when the pandemic started and have been recovering since early summer 2020. Crude is now up in the range of $80.
For a longer-term perspective, here are some price indicators for crude oil since 2010:
For a shorter-term perspective, here are the two real prices listed in the Directors Cut since the middle of 2019:
