North Dakota Could Boost Oil Output

North Dakota’s oil output could climb another 100,000 barrels per day by the end of 2022 amid high crude prices, a state energy regulator estimates, according to the Bismarck Tribune.

The U.S. could ultimately supplant about 750,000 of the 5 million barrels Russia had exported daily to countries that are now backing sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month, State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told reporters at a press briefing.

“The vast majority of that is going to come from the Permian,” he said, referring to the prolific oil-producing region in Texas and New Mexico that competes with North Dakota’s Bakken oil fields. “We think North Dakota could come up with 50,000 to 100,000 (barrels per day) by the end of the year.”

North Dakota’s oil production could climb as high as 1.2 million barrels per day, he said. But he sees two factors tempering the potential for further increased activity in the Bakken: politics and a worker shortage.

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