April 21, 2020
Tough times ahead for state’s oil industry
By Neal A. Shipman
Farmer Editor
The oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia that has seen oil prices plummet to near an 18-year low, along with the COVID-19 pandemic that has dramatically cut the world demand for oil has dealt a one-two punch to North Dakota’s oil industry says the state’s top oil regulator.
During his monthly Director’s Cut on Tuesday, April 14, Lynn Helms, Department of Mineral Resources director, said that since the beginning of March an estimated 4,600 wells of the state’s 16,118 producing wells have been shut in which has reduced the state’s oil production by 260,000 barrels per day. And he expects the number of shut-in wells, as well as uncompleted wells, to continue to increase.