Oil Output Eases as North Dakota Marks Gas Capture Milestone
M.K. French
Farmer Staff Writer
North Dakota’s crude oil production experienced a minor month-over-month decline in April 2026, averaging 1.137 million barrels per day, state officials announced during the monthly Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Director’s Cut briefing. The total monthly output landed at 34,114,664 barrels, a subtle 0.48 percent drop from March’s final tally of 1.142 million barrels per day. State officials attributed the cooling production numbers to a slight slowdown in well completions and soft commodity pricing trailing from late 2025 into early 2026. Despite the minor production dip, the state celebrated a massive operational milestone in natural gas efficiency, shrugged off concerns regarding a recent global price drop, and paid an emotional tribute to a towering figure in North Dakota geology.
DMR Director Nathan Anderson kicked off the press conference by honoring Ed Murphy, who is retiring at the end of June after a historic 46-year career with the North Dakota Geological Survey (NDGS). Murphy, who has served as the state’s 13th State Geologist for the past 22 years, leaves behind a legacy that includes publishing over 875 maps and authoring 147 geological reports. “From everyone at the DMR, we express deep gratitude to Ed Murphy for his service to the citizens of North Dakota,” Anderson said, welcoming incoming leaders Dr. Clint Boyd and Fred Anderson to the helm.
The Bakken and Three Forks formations continue to completely dominate the state’s energy profile, accounting for 97.4 percent of total crude output. April’s production fell roughly 1.12 percent below the state’s revenue forecast of 1.15 million barrels per day. According to Anderson, the month saw an active tug-of-war at the wellhead: 11,676 wells experienced a combined production loss of about 159,337 barrels per day, while 8,188 wells saw an aggregate increase of 153,832 barrels per day.
The state’s top five crude-producing counties remained unchanged, commanding a staggering 96 percent of all North Dakota production:
1. McKenzie County (Leading the state with 31.7 percent of total output)
2. Williams County
3. Dunn County
4. Mountrail County
5. Divide County
On a national scale, North Dakota maintained its position as the third-largest crude producer in the United States for the first quarter of 2026, pulling in 101.1 million barrels, trailing behind Texas (514 million) and New Mexico (202 million).
While crude oil took a slight step back, natural gas volumes continued their steady march upward. North Dakota produced 105.3 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas in April, averaging 3.5 BCF per day. Remarkably, the state’s gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) surged to a record high of 3.09 MCF per barrel of oil. Justin Kringstad, Executive Director of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority, highlighted that despite the rising gas volumes, midstream operators successfully maintained a 95.5 percent gas capture rate statewide (95.7 percent specifically in the Bakken). This comfortably exceeded the state’s strict regulatory capture requirements.
The financial landscape for North Dakota operators remained highly lucrative through April. The North Dakota tax department recorded an average wellhead price of $92.91 per barrel for April, a booming 57.5 percent higher than the state’s conservative revenue forecast of $59.00. Producers are also increasingly leaning into extended-reach drilling to maximize efficiency. Long laterals, drill paths spanning three to four miles horizontally, now make up 63 percent of all well laterals in the state. “When you don’t have to drill another vertical section to get those extra two miles, there is significant cost savings and operational efficiency,” Anderson explained, noting that three- and four-mile wells show virtually no production degradation compared to traditional two-mile wells. “It’s less surface disturbance...it’s better stewardship of the land.”
The briefing took a sharp look forward as online media pressed officials on how the recent U.S.–Iran peace deal, which caused benchmark oil prices to tumble overnight from $95 down to the $73–$75 range, would impact North Dakota for the remainder of 2026. Director Anderson was emphatically dismissive of any impending doom, pointing to historic project economics as an analog. “Historically, $75 oil is still a very, very strong price,” Anderson stated. “Operators were holding North Dakota production steady at about 1.1 to 1.15 million barrels per day when it was at $55 and $60 oil. I would expect kind of the same thing going forward.”
Anderson confirmed that permits actually increased from 83 in April to 93 in May, and a recent 13 percent spike in workover rig activity shows operators are aggressively optimizing existing wells. When asked if the price drop would trigger companies to shut-in (stop production on) active wells, Anderson was clear: “In my experience... I would definitely say that I would not be considering any shut-ins at $75 oil.”
Addressing midstream infrastructure, Justin Kringstad clarified questions regarding the idle Bakken Express (also referred to as the Bison Express) pipeline project meant to head toward Cheyenne. Kringstad noted the project is currently frozen by a routine disconnect regarding “gas quality tariffs” being negotiated between corporate parties. He emphasized that given current production levels, the delay is not causing any field congestion or negative impacts at the state level.
More notably, Kringstad highlighted a new, cross-international infrastructure application submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The northern tier of North Dakota’s oil play has long suffered from limited gas processing capacity. To solve this, the Steel Reef organization, which recently acquired the Lignite gas plant from ONEOK, is proposing a new pipeline system to transport raw North Dakota natural gas north across the border into Canada to utilize available capacity at the Flat Lake processing plant in Saskatchewan. “Gas gatherers and processors are constantly shuffling molecules around to plants that have capacity,” Kringstad explained. While the FERC application is still pending approval, Kringstad noted the international pipeline would be a “definite net positive” to alleviate northern border production bottlenecks.
Concluding the briefing, Director Anderson took a moment to clarify the state’s regulatory bookkeeping regarding inactive infrastructure. The DMR currently tracks 2,180 wells listed as inactive or abandoned. However, Anderson emphasized that these are securely backed by corporate titles, responsible companies, and active financial bonds. True “orphan wells, “ those left entirely without an owner or financial backing, are practically non-existent in the Peace Garden State. “North Dakota does not have an orphan well issue,” Anderson stated firmly, noting that out of roughly 25,000 total recorded wells, the state only has 17 true orphan wells currently tied up in litigation or plugging phases. “By far, the state that has the least amount of orphan wells is North Dakota. It’s incredibly small.”