Natural gas production increases faster than oil production in Bakken region, EIA says

North Dakota’s Bakken region’s gas-oil ratio, the ratio of natural gas production relative to crude oil, has been increasing since 2008 and has increased at a faster rate since 2014, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

EIA’s Monthly Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production Report shows that North Dakota crude oil production has decreased to 1.07 million barrels per day (b/d) as of August 2017 since peaking at more than 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) in December 2014. The Bakken region, which includes the Bakken and Three Forks formations, produces more than 90% of North Dakota’s crude oil and natural gas.

Despite production decreases in 2016, North Dakota continued to be the second-largest oil-producing state with 11 percent of total U.S. crude oil production.

As oil production in North Dakota has dropped, natural gas production has continued to flourish. It reached a record high 1.94 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in August 2017, the energy equivalent of about 334,000 b/d of crude oil.

Despite the increasing gas-oil ratio, North Dakota still produces approximately three times more energy from crude oil as it does from natural gas.

In past years, 35 percent of the state’s gross withdrawals of natural gas was flared rather than marketed due to a lack of infrastructure. Data from North Dakota’s Industrial Commission shows that the volume of flared natural gas has dropped by approximately 40 percent between 2014 and 2017 to approximately 0.20 Bcf/d. The commission established targets in 2014 to reduce flaring to 10 percent by Oct. 1, 2020.