North Dakota Revenues Face Uncertainty Due to Oil Price Volatility

(Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota state revenues remain on target for now amidst unpredictable oil prices, but budget officials urged caution.

“There’s really a perfect example of North Dakota’s volatile revenues,” Allen Knudson, budget analyst and auditor for Legislative Council, told lawmakers Wednesday afternoon. “It’s way up one day and way down the next.”

Oil prices have greatly fluctuated in recent weeks amid the United States’ and Israel’s war in Iran. Before that, prices were low due to high supply.

Last month, the price for North Dakota crude oil was about $50 a barrel, but is now about $80 and potentially going up, Knudson said. That $30 per barrel increase equates to about $3 million in additional state revenue each day, he said.