1. North Dakota drillers produced almost 20 million barrels of oil in June from a record number of 7,352 wells, which is more than double the state's oil output in February 2011.
2. There are about 35,000 wells yet to be drilled in western North Dakota’s oil patch, almost five times the number of existing wells, so we can expect the current exponential increases in Bakken oil output to continue in the future.
3. Oil companies are increasingly making inroads with advanced drilling technologies, and drillers are finishing new wells at a rate of eight per day, up from less than one a day five years ago.
4. The time needed to drill a well has dropped by two-thirds since 2007 from 60 to 20 days, as the industry continues to fine-tune cutting through dense rock to the oil trapped nearly two miles beneath the surface. This significant increase in efficiency is due in part to the increased use of diamond-tipped bits and the growing number of "walking drill rigs," which can be moved between well sites on hydraulic feet without having to be disassembled.
5. Besides the 161 increase in producing wells added during the month of June, there were an additional 350 wells that were completed and awaiting hydraulic fracturing services.
6. State and industry officials are reporting that 99 percent of rigs in the Bakken and Three Forks formations hit oil, while nine of 10 rigs are profitable.
7. A typical well drilled in North Dakota will produce about 540,000 barrels of oil during its 29-year lifespan, which would have a market of value of $40.5 million at $75 per barrel and $54 million at $100 per barrel.
8. It will take at least 15 more years to complete drilling in the Bakken formation.
Bottom Line: North Dakota's future looks very, very bright and its status as the "economic miracle state" will continue for decades.
Sources: Jamestown Sun and the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.
Peak what?
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