N.D. Oil Output Jumps Even As Flaring Rule Changes Loom

The industry has effectively reached that goal, but it did so by posting a jump in July oil production that was only about half what had been expected, Lynn Helms, the director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said in a presentation to reporters.

"The industry is taking this dead serious," Helms said of the flaring goal.

The number of rigs operating in the state as of Friday stood at 198, up from 193 in August but 9 percent below the all-time high, according to state data.

"The industry understands that there is no better place to make money than the core of the Bakken and Three Forks formations" in North Dakota, Helms said.

Helms vowed to keep drilling permit approvals going in order to continue development, though he acknowledged that oilfield service companies are having a hard time completing wells due to the speed at which drilling is occurring.

Shares of top Bakken oil producers fell across the board on Friday along with the broader stock market.

Shares of Continental Resources Inc fell the most after the company, the largest North Dakota oil company, said its president had quit. The stock was down $1.93, or 2.5 percent, at $73.86 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)


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