WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) — Oil production in North Dakota and
Montana’s Bakken and Three Forks formations will average 1.1 million
barrels per day this year, according to estimates announced Wednesday by
a research firm.
Wood Mackenzie anticipates that oil production
in the North Dakota and Montana sections of the Bakken and Three Forks
formations will grow to 1.7 million barrels per day in 2020.
"We’re
very confident on the future of the Bakken," said Jonathan Garrett, an
analyst at Wood Mackenzie. He added that the expected lifetime of a
Bakken well is 25 years to 30 years.
Wood Mackenzie projects that $15 billion will be spent on drilling and completion of wells by Bakken
participants in 2014.
The
research firm also said there is close to $118 billion in remaining
value in the American portions of the Bakken and Three Forks formations,
which also stretch into Canada’s Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces.
Last
year, North Dakota produced a daily average just shy of 860,000 barrels
per day, according to statistics from the North Dakota Industrial
Commission’s oil and gas division. The North Dakota Petroleum Council, a
group that provides governmental relations support to oil companies,
expects the state’s oil production to surpass 1 million barrels per day
in June.
"Today, the Bakken produces more crude oil than any other unconventional play in the world,"
Wood Mackenzie said in a statement.
"Those
aren’t terms that go along with boom and bust," said Ron Ness, the
president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. "Those are elements
that show you that the Bakken is a very unique and world-class
resource."
North Dakota is the second-biggest oil producer in the nation, behind Texas.
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