Don’t Expect North Dakota Oil Activity to Ramp up Any Time Soon

(Photo by Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor)

(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota’s oil and gas industry is not expected to significantly increase drilling activity in response to the price surge, a stark departure from the familiar boom-and-bust cycle in the Bakken.

Domestic crude oil pricing benchmarks have been hovering just shy of $100 per barrel. A decade ago that would have prompted a scramble to drill new wells. Instead, activity levels in North Dakota are virtually unchanged as about 25 drilling rigs and eight frack crews remain active in the state.

The flat activity levels are partly due to changes in the state’s oil industry in recent years, regulators said this week. A series of consolidations in the industry have left North Dakota’s oil and gas industry dominated by some of the largest energy companies in the country. Their 2026 budgets have already been set and are unlikely to change.

“I don’t foresee them making rapid changes until there’s a price stabilization,” said David Tabor, senior field operations manager for the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources. “Then they’ll most likely adjust accordingly.”