North Dakota Bakken Shale gas output inches closer to pre-pandemic volumes

摘要

Bakken Shale natural gas production continues to climb as the number of completion crews reaches a 15-month high and Watford City prices remain well above $3/MMBtu. In April 2020, fracking crews in North Dakota plummeted from 25 to one, following the pandemic and commodity price collapse. It crawled back to six by May 2021 and increased to eight by mid- July, according to the North Dakota Industrial Commission. Despite the gains, at current oil and gas prices, the number should be higher. "Oil is flat as a pancake at a 0.4% [month-on-month] increase," said NDIC director Lynn Helms. "We were anticipating more completion activity in May. I expect to see more increases in July and August, but we are currently seeing serious problems in the field."