In this week's news update, North Dakota oil production takes a little dip and the US rig count declines yet again.
The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by nine last week to 859, according to Baker Hughes.
The oilfield services company announced on June 12 that 635 rigs were seeking oil and 221 were seeking natural gas. Three were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago 1,854 rigs were active and oil prices were nearly double what they are now.
Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, Utah and West Virginia all declined by one rig, while Louisiana and Oklahoma both gained one rig. Arkansas, California, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming were unchanged.
Hess Sells Half of Processing Unit
Hess Corp. has agreed to sell a 50 percent stake in its processing and pipeline unit in the Bakken region of North Dakota to private equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners for $2.675 billion in cash.
The two companies are forming a midstream joint venture called Hess Infrastructure Partners, Hess said in a statement on June 12. It will include a natural gas processing plant, rail-loading terminal and rail cars as well as crude oil pipelines and trucks.
Hess will get a total of $3 billion in cash from the transaction, including $300 million from a debt sale by the joint venture.
North Dakota Production Slips Slightly
North Dakota oil production fell 1.8 percent — nearly 22,000 barrels per day — in April to 1.17 million bbl/d after recording a surprising jump in March, as weak crude oil prices led producers to ease production.
The North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources says it expects the state’s oil production to remain at 1.1 to 1.2 million bbl/d until oil prices recover.
The state’s natural gas production for April was up slightly at 1.54 billion cf/d from 1.51 billion cf/d in March.
Comments