Severe cold cuts US oil and gas production
Freezing temperatures have reduced North Dakota crude production by as much as 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) in recent days, according to estimates from the North Dakota Pipeline Authority on Sunday, reported by Reuters .
Natural gas production in North Dakota has also fallen, due to the Arctic blast and freezing weather that has hit much of the United States in recent hours. We are talking about temperatures hovering between -20 C and -30 C. This morning the temperature in Bismark was -25 C.
Before this weekend's drop in crude oil production, North Dakota was producing about 1.2 million bpd-1.3 million bpd of oil. The all-time production high of 1.52 million bpd was reached in November 2019, just before the pandemic.
The latest available data, for October, shows that North Dakota oil production averaged 1.24 million bpd during the month, down slightly from September's 1.28 million bpd, a due to a snowfall at the end of October which limited part of the production. The majority of oil production, 97%, comes from the Bakken and Three Forks formations, according to data from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.
This weekend's winter freeze has disrupted oil and natural gas production in other parts of the United States as well.
Freezing temperatures across much of the United States have frozen gas wells, pushing production to an 11-month low, according to Reuters estimates.
At the same time, demand for electricity has reached a record high in some states, particularly Texas. There, the grid regulator was due to issue a conservation call for Monday morning, as demand is expected to surpass last summer's record.
“Operating reserves are expected to be low Monday morning due to continued cold temperatures, record demand and unseasonably low winds,” ERCOT said in the advisory.
Electricity demand in the state with the highest gas production and largest wind generation capacity is expected to reach 85.56 gigawatts (GW) on Tuesday, according to federal energy data cited by Reuters. According to ERCOT estimates, supply could be 1 GW lower.
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The article Severe cold cuts US oil and gas production comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-freddo-intenso-taglia-la-produzione-di-petrolio-e-gas-negli-usa/ on Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:02:05 +0000.