North Dakota oil plants slow to return online after wildfires in October

The state's Industrial Commission reported on Wednesday that oil operators in North Dakota are still working to bring some of their facilities online after wildfires in October swept through counties with significant oil production.

According to Justin Kringstad of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, the outages were limited to isolated production sites such as well pads that experienced local equipment damage, or a loss in electricity due to damaged electrical lines.

Mark Bohrer is the assistant director of North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources' oil and gas division. He said that the October production in the state was down by 520,000 barrels, mainly because operators closed in wells in order to prevent damage from wildfires.

Bohrer said that the (drop in production) number is significant.

The monthly data released by the commission on Wednesday showed that production in October was down to 1,178 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) from 1.2million bpd.

The number of rigs in the state is stable, with 37 rigs in December. Bohrer said that this number is expected to rise to mid-40s in the next two years.

As of December 2014, there are only 14 active hydraulic fracturing teams in North Dakota. This is down from 18 last month and 16 the previous month.

Winter weather has arrived in the region and we could see limited effects on oil production statewide during November and December. Kringstad stated that there has not been a severe winter event causing widespread production reductions.

According to the regulator, Bakken oil at Clearbrook in Minnesota was priced at $1.55 per barrel less than West Texas Intermediate. This compares to a 90 cent discount last month. (Reporting and editing by Matthew Lewis, Diane Craft, and Georgina McCartney from Houston)

(source: Reuters)