Soaring ND Oil Production To Get Another Boost

DALE WETZEL

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's already burgeoning oil production could soar another 50 percent next year as the state's capacity to export crude catches up with its ability to pump it, state regulators and industry officials say.

If oil prices stay above $60 a barrel and contemplated oil transportation projects become reality, the state could be producing 400,000 barrels of oil daily within five years, said Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources.

North Dakota's current production now exceeds 230,000 barrels a day, which ranks the state behind only Texas, Alaska and California. The state's output supplies about 2 percent of the nation's domestic crude oil output.

It is expected to approach 350,000 barrels next year, an increase of more than 50 percent, because of a major pipeline expansion and the anticipated startup of a shipping terminal near Stanley that will be able to haul 60,000 barrels a day by rail to refineries near Cushing, Okla.

More expansion being planned by the pipeline companies Enbridge Inc. and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP would allow another boost that could put the state's daily production at 400,000 barrels, Helms said.