workover rig companies in north dakota free sample

Assists the Rig Operator in performing job activities associated with the rig-up and rig-down of the workover rig, picking up/laying down and standing back rods…

Manages tools on the workover rig floor and assists in daily maintenance. Must have a minimum of 1 year of experience as a workover rig floorhand to be…

Spot in, rig up, and rig down well service unit (rig). Minimum of 1 year operating rig. Workover rig experience (minimum 6 months verified experience).

Installs / disassembles (rig up/rig down) of wireline and pressure control equipment in accordance with original equipment manufacturer’s standards including…

Operate the rig safely during rig up/down and pulling operations. Perform all required equipment inspections-workover rig, fall arrest system, derrick, hoisting…

The successful candidate will have an outstanding track record of success in workover rig experience in operating heavy equipment while ensuring communication…

Ensures all crew members are at the rig and prepared to work at the scheduled time. Determines how a service job will be performed based on specific conditions…

Inspects the setting up, taking down and transportation of the assigned workover rig. The Rig Operator, reporting to the assigned Tool Pusher/Field Supervisor,…

Operate the rig safely during rig up/down and pulling operations. Perform all required equipment inspections-workover rig, fall arrest system, derrick, hoisting…

Communicates with customer and/or the delegated well site representative, rig crew and field support staff. Plans, directs, supervises, and evaluates the work…

3+ years workover rig / wellsite supervisory experience. Ensures efficient maintenance of assigned rig and equipment. High school diploma, equivalent or higher.

The Floor Hand position is part of a 4-5 person workover rig crew on a well service rig, who are responsible for performing services on oil and gas wells…

Operate the rig safely during rig up/down and pulling operations. Perform all required equipment inspections-workover rig, fall arrest system, derrick, hoisting…

Perform services on oil and gas wells as part of a 3-5 person workover rig crew. Lifts, removes, installs and operates well head pump, jacks and performs other…

We are immediately hiring full snubbing crews for 170k stand alone rig assist and 150k rig assist snubbing units! High school diploma, GED or equivalent.

*Floor Hands - *minimum experience required 6 months. *Derrick Hands - *minimum experience required 1 year. Job Requirements: *Job requirements include but are…

Manages tools on the workover rig floor and assists in daily maintenance. Must have a minimum of 1 year of experience as a workover rig floorhand to be…

Assists the Rig Operator in performing job activities associated with the rig-up and rig-down of the workover rig, picking up/laying down and standing back rods…

2+ years previous oilfield and/or workover rig experience preferred. Work on floors or derricks on the rig as needed. May offer relocation package DOE.

The successful candidate will have an outstanding track record of success in workover rig experience in operating heavy equipment while ensuring communication…

Crew Member positions include Rig Trainee (no experience required), and Floor hand, Derrick hand, Relief Crew Chief, and Crew Chief, which are experience…

Spot in, rig up, and rig down well service unit (rig). Minimum of 1 year operating rig. Workover rig experience (minimum 6 months verified experience).

$3000 SIGN ON BONUS. Overtime available - 60-70 hours per week. Exceptionally clean and state of the art shop. Diesel engine repair: 1 year (Required).

The Crew Worker, under the direction of the Rig Operator, performs activities and operates hand and power tools to perform maintenance and repairs to oil or gas…

Manages tools on the workover rig floor and assists in daily maintenance. Picks up/lays down pipe and latches tubing in elevators. This is a full-time position.

Operate the rig safely during rig up/down and pulling operations. Perform all required equipment inspections-workover rig, fall arrest system, derrick, hoisting…

Manages tools on the workover rig floor and assists in daily maintenance. Picks up/lays down pipe and latches tubing in elevators. This is a full-time position.

 Minimum 5 years production rig workover experience. Rig workover: 5 years (Preferred). The Gorilla Jack is designed as a supplement to workover rigs and is…

Installs / disassembles (rig up/rig down) of wireline and pressure control equipment in accordance with original equipment manufacturer’s standards including…

Every workover rig available is going right now in the Bakken, North Dakota’s top oil and gas regulator Lynn Helms said on Friday, during his monthly oil production report, as companies try to get wells online as quickly as possible after back-to-back blizzards idled a substantial number of four and five-well pads in Williams, Divide, and McKenzie counties.

March was a good month for production, Helms said, with a 2.8 percent increase in crude oil production from 1.089 million barrels per day to 1.12 million barrels per day. That figure is 2 percent above revenue forecast. Gas production, meanwhile, rose 4.5 percent to 3.01 billion cubic feet per day from 2.87 billion cubic feet per day in February.

Gas capture percentages were 95 percent, and this time Fort Berthold was a bright spot, with 97 percent capture. Helms said he expects continued improvement in the Fort Berthold area, with new solutions for gas capture in the works for the Twin Buttes area, which has been a problem spot.

But production is not going to look as rosy in April, Helms said, and may not look great in May either, given the time it will take to repair electrical distribution infrastructure. Load limits remain in place because of wet conditions, and that is a condition that might go on for a while, given the recent flooding issues caused by rain.

“We saw production in the first blizzard dropped from about 1.1 million barrels a day to 750,000 a day,” Helms said. “We recovered not quite back to a million barrels a day. And then the second blizzard came in. It was heavily impactful on electrical power and infrastructure in the Bakken oil fields.”

“It took a week, or I guess within a little bit less than a week, we recovered to 700,000 and it’s taken another week, we think we’re back at about a million barrels a day.”

One of the biggest of problems was that so many natural gas processing plants were knocked out of service, some for nine hours and others for well over a week.

“Just this past week, our largest gas plant came on and that’s really enabled a lot of production to come back on,” Helms said. “So we’re back to a million barrels a day, maybe a little more. You know all of the large operators reported enormous production losses. And of course that has led to the deployment of every workover rig available being out there trying to get wells back on production.”

Last weekend in Williams County, a dozen four and five-well pads along Highway 2, headed toward Ray, remained idle. They appeared to be without electricity, with some poles still clearly broken and lines laying down on the ground.

In his discussions with drilling contractors, Helms has learned that most drilling rigs went south to Texas and New Mexico, both of which escape winter sooner than the Bakken. Those areas hired the available workforce, too, which has added to the Bakken’s difficulty in attracting workforce.

“It’s taking around two months to train and deploy a drilling rig and crew, and very similar timeframes for frack crews,” Helms said. “So it’s just very, very slowly coming back.”

“There have not been any new frack fleets constructed since before the pandemic,” Helms said. “So the iron that’s out there is starting to show some wear and tear, some age, and, at some point, we’re going to have to see capital deployed to bring that iron back on.”

“I was reading an article today, and some of the large operators were saying, ‘Well you know we could bid up the price to hire frack crews, but all we would be doing is hiring them away from smaller companies that can’t afford to pay as much.’ So there wouldn’t be a gain in the number operating, in the number of wells completed, or really a more rapid rise in production. So it’s very much workforce limited.”

North Dakota rig counts are at 40 right now and Montana rigs are at 2, according to figures from North Dakota Pipeline Authority Justin Kringstad. Helms said the Bakken hasn’t seen those numbers since March of 2020. There are about 15 frack crews running now, a number last seen in April 2020.

Prices, however, have been well ahead of revenue forecasts, pushed in part by sanctions against Russia, which attempt to choke a major source of financial capital for the invasion of Ukraine, as well as continued supply chain issues and lower than expected production from OPEC.

“Today’s price is almost $102 a barrel for North Dakota light sweet and $106 West Texas,” Helms said. “So we’re estimating about $104 a barrel for North Dakota crude prices. That’s more than double revenue forecast. Revenue forecast was based on $50 oil, so that’s 108 percent above that.”

“And of course the market did not like the signal that it got this week or late last week of the cancellation of the offshore lease sales in the Alaskan lease sales,” Helms said.

“For example, the RMPs, or the resource management programs, and the records of decision from Corps of Engineers and Forest Service weren’t filed along with information about why various quarterly lease sales were canceled,” Helms said. “And why some of the tracts were chosen that were chosen to be in this latest lease sale.”

North Dakota is a few days away from a May 18 deadline for protests in the projected June sale, which has 15 parcels listed. If there’s a protest against one or more of the tracts, they could be pulled from the sale for further consideration.

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In a field of brittle yellow grass and clotted mud about five miles north of Dickinson, North Dakota, stands a cemetery of sorts. Drilling rigs stretch into the sky like tall skeletons. The occasional lone truck rattles along a dirt road. Otherwise, the location is deserted.

Similar graveyards have been popping up across the western half of the state since the price of oil sharply declined last fall. These once-great moneymakers that drew thousands to the state are now idle, or “stacked,” in the lingo of the oil fields. As more and more companies have stopped drilling following the decline in the price of oil last year, the term has become all too familiar.

During the good times, jobs were plentiful and businesses prospered. High-school graduates earned six-figure salaries in the oil fields, and cash flowed into the hands of those lucky enough to own the mineral rights to land rich with oil. North Dakota’s sudden success coincided with an economic slump in the rest of the country; job seekers rushed to the state fleeing hard times. For seven straight years, North Dakota boasted the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Early this year, it slipped from that coveted spot.

Though many native North Dakotans remembered the oil bust in the late 1980s, this time it was easy to believe that the boom would last. “Your grandchildren’s grandchildren will be working in the Bakken,” Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, said in October. Just over a year ago, North Dakota was producing more than one million barrels of oil per day, more than any state but Texas. This time around, it seemed, things would be different.

But as soon as the price of oil dropped late last year, things began to unravel, and rigs started to close. Of the 192 drilling rigs active in April of 2014, just 94 were open one year later.

Charlie Cogdill, an agent for Halliburton, has been through four oil busts over the course of his career. He describes drilling as “the tip of the spear,” the first part of the industry to be affected by the slowdown. A downturn in oil prices produces a ripple effect that spreads from drilling to fracking, from the workers on the rigs to the small communities where those workers live.

What will happen to those who uprooted themselves and their families to move here? What will happen to the towns that suddenly flourished? What will happen to those who pinned their dreams on the North Dakota oil boom?

Early this spring, 16 miles east of a town called Watford City, Dallas Lawrey watched from his trailer as one of his last drilling rigs was taken apart piece by piece.

The bust hit the drilling industry the hardest. As more and more drilling rigs stack, more and more men like Lawrey worry that they won’t be able to hang onto their jobs.

At high noon, the rig buzzed with activity. Men wearing steel-toed boots, clear safety goggles, and mud-splattered hard hats were everywhere, driving trucks and moving machinery. A team hosed down and cleaned the rig before it was stacked as an extra safety consultant watched to ensure protocol was followed while the rig was disassembled. Just beside a dirty, frayed American flag, another flag—a white one, bearing the name of the drilling company Nabors—flapped in the wind. The crew took down the flag of XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, after they learned the company was idling the rig.

Lawrey, a long-time resident of Dickinson, North Dakota, worked in the oil fields most of his adult life and is the main provider for his family. His wife, Sara, works as a secretary for the private Catholic elementary school his two youngest children attend, earning them discounted tuition but little else. The family moved into a spacious new home five years ago, which they have yet to finish paying off. Lawrey recently bought Sara a “spendy” new Suburban.

For the past five years, Lawrey worked for XTO Energy as a drilling consultant. “I think they’re going to keep me on,” Lawrey said in March. But that’s not how things shook out. Lawrey worked his last day for the company on April 21. He is now working full-time for a friend’s excavating company. “I’m kind of enjoying the break from the oil field, to be honest,” he says.

Although drillers and their supervisors are the ones most affected by the slowdown, the livelihoods of those who sell equipment to the oil field have also diminished in recent months.

Jesse Kilwein, 27, is one of those workers. On behalf of Little Dog, LLC, he sells the tools that drillers use to break apart rock formations. In 2012, Little Dog serviced 68 rigs. By March, that was down to 25 rigs and Kilwein’s boss, Charlie Cogdill, expected that number to keep falling, and it did. Before the slowdown, Kilwein and two other full-time salesmen would each work with five or six different drilling companies every day. Little Dog has so few rigs left to service now that Kilwein and his co-worker Zach Schlabsz make their rounds together. The staff has shrunk significantly as of late—the other full-time salesman, two shop hands, and a secretary have left the company or been laid off.

Cogdill gave the two employees he laid off a month’s severance and told them to find another job while they still could. “Having been through this before, I know how it goes,” he said. “What I told them was, ‘I can keep you on for two, three more months but, in the end, this is going to happen.’”

Both Kilwein and Schlabsz are anxious about the slowdown. With fewer rigs to service, salesmen who are paid commission make less money. And both men have young families to support. Kilwein’s wife, Kayla, gave birth to the couple’s second daughter earlier this month. The couple had been hoping to buy a house, but that now seems out of reach. “We are constantly looking,” Kilwein says. “With the market the way it is, it’s hard to find the right place for the right price right now.”

The slowdown has spread to the oil-production side as well. Although not seriously affected yet, production companies are taking steps to save money. Jesse Crone is the regional manager of Extreme Energy Services, one such company. Crone’s team has already taken one pay cut, and he’s laid off two people. “Every week you see more and more rigs coming out of the field,” he says. “I’ve been taking pay cuts myself.”

Crone has worked in the oil industry for 10 years and remembers when work slowed temporarily in 2008. “When times are good in the oil field, no one ever thinks about the slowdown. But the slowdown’s [always] just around the corner,” he says. “It’s either feast or famine,” his wife, Chelsey, adds.

They came from Apple Valley, a town of 70,000 people, considered small by the standards of Southern California. When the housing market crashed in 2006, Clint’s eight-year-old surveying business collapsed. “There was no work,” he says. “It was horrible.” Clint worked in Australia for a year but wasn’t able to obtain long-term visas for the whole family. When they returned to California, in 2008, the economy was still in a slump. Jamaica worked at a vacuum store owned by some of their friends. The couple started a side business slaughtering rabbits and shipping them to restaurants, which brought in an extra $600 a month. Still, they were barely making ends meet.

Then, the Airs’ luck changed. A headhunter recruited Clint to be a surveyor in North Dakota for a Texas-based company. He moved to Dickinson in June 2013 and Jamaica brought the kids out in August.

During the economic downturn back in Apple Valley, Clint says, a part-time, minimum-wage opening at a McDonald’s would bring in a long line of applicants. But during the boom in western North Dakota, fast-food chains, desperate for workers, paid above minimum wage and offered hiring bonuses to potential employees.

Prior to the slowdown, Clint managed five crews of two people each, most of whom were from Texas. Many of the crew members have since been laid off, although a few of them were able to return to projects in Texas. By March, Clint was working on his own, and the four trucks that belonged to his crews—each containing about $100,000 of surveying equipment—were parked outside his home. Since then, one crew has returned to North Dakota, but the others remain out of state.

The Airs had always thought North Dakota would be a temporary home, but not thistemporary. They had originally planned to stay and save money until their son, Destin, now an eighth-grader, graduated from high school, and then they’d move to Oregon or Washington. But after experiencing the steep cost of living firsthand, the family had resolved to leave after the current school year if the rents didn’t drop. Since the rents did drop, the Airs will be staying in Dickinson for the time being.During the boom in North Dakota, fast-food chains, desperate for workers, paid above minimum wage and offered hiring bonuses to potential employees.

The Airs are planning to stay put for now, but some families can’t manage that degree of stability. The district has lost 120 students over the course of the year, a 3.4 percent decrease, according to Vince Reep, the assistant superintendent of Dickinson’s public-school system. The loss is in sharp contrast to the steady influx of young students the schools saw for two years prior. “We grew by over 500, nearly 600 children in two years,” Reep says.

The departing children and families left empty homes behind. Dave Bauer, who manages 700 apartments, garages, and houses in Dickinson says that in September of last year, he had barely any vacancies. Then in October, he began receiving notices from residents saying they were leaving the state for reasons related to the oil slowdown. This spring, the vacancies piled up.

Recently, the price of oil has crept slowly upward, but it has stagnated at around $60 per barrel. The improvement is enough to inspire a sliver of hope but isn’t enough for drilling to ramp up again in again earnest.

Some are hopeful that oil production will rebound, but Cogdill predicts that drilling won’t bounce back for at least two or three years, even if the cost of oil shoots upward. For one thing, it would take time for drilling to ramp back up after the rigs have been stacked and crews have been laid off. In any case, he believes production would need to fall significantly in the United States before the price of oil would increase and new drilling would start up again.

It’s no secret that North Dakota’s oil industry is booming. Advancements in hydraulic fracturing have helped Western North Dakota experience month after month of record-setting oil production, making for one of the fastest-growing economic expansions the U.S. has ever seen. With the region having one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and generating over 75,000 new jobs in the past few years, thousands of workers have showed up searching for high-paying jobs. Oil field workers in the state saw an average annual wage of $112,462 in 2012. Competition has intensified since the boom started around 2007, but entry level rig workers still average about $66,000 a year, according to Rigzone, an industry information provider and job website.

Though the salary figures may sound appealing, be warned that few of these jobs are located in a cushy office environment or require a mere 40 hours a week. Most employees report working anywhere from 80 to 120 hours a week, and conditions in North Dakota can be brutal, with temperatures regularly dropping below minus 30 degrees during the long winters. Housing is difficult to find, and many workers live in man camps with shared bathrooms and dining quarters.

If you’re thinking about giving the oil industry a try despite all those warnings, what can you expect? Which jobs should you shoot for? Here’s a rundown of the highest-paying jobs in North Dakota’s oil industry. The data come from Rigzone and are averages based on total annual compensation, including overtime and incentive pay. Though the data are calculated using industry figures from around the country, we only included positions that can be found in North Dakota’s oil patch.

A drilling consultant is an expert in all types of drilling operations. To become one, you typically need a bachelor’s degree or higher in engineering or a related field and at least five to 10 years experience in the oil field. The job tends to require frequent travel.

Sometimes called a “company man,” this managerial/supervisor position involves overseeing day-to-day operations of a crew, including safety, budget and maintenance, and coordinating with the various contractors that work with the company. The job is largely held by senior oil and gas professionals with many years of experience.

A “workover” or “completion” rig is placed on a hole after it’s been drilled. It’s typically used to insert tubing or pipe into the hole, perform major maintenance operations and set up the infrastructure for a hydraulic fracturing job. It’s one of the more technically difficult jobs in the field and tends to require an engineering degree. A workover driller will also assess well performance and recommend solutions for optimizing oil production.

There are many types of engineers in the oil field. One of the highest paid is a reservoir engineer, which involves estimating oil reserves and performing modeling studies to determine optimal locations and recovery methods. Other high-paid engineering jobs include a drilling engineer (averaging $142,664 a year), petroleum engineer ($126,448 a year) and mud engineer ($109,803 year).

Rig managers tend to oversee and manage the crew that’s working on-site. The job could include prepping and managing the budget and making sure targets are met. A bachelor’s degree isn’t usually required, as most rig managers start at the bottom as a rig hand or roustabout and work their way up.

Geoscientists and geologists in the field study the composition, structure, process and physical aspects of the earth’s energy resources, including analyzing data and collecting samples. A bachelor’s degree or higher is required.

Coil tubing refers to the metal piping used in an oil well after it’s been drilled. The tubing needed to pump fracking fluid down a well, among other operations. A coil tubing professional provides technical support and overseas the operation from start to finish, and tends to work as a contractor with many different oil companies. No bachelor’s degree is required.

Well control specialists or well testers typically travel from site to site, setting up and taking down rigs; inspecting production levels and equipment; and testing flowback quality. No bachelor’s degree required, though strong analytical skills, computer skills and experience with Excel spreadsheets is needed.

These jobs involve the work done to a well to increase production, including the process of hydraulic fracturing, when a mix of chemicals is pumped down the well to create fissures in the rock formation. It helps to have a degree in organic chemistry, chemical engineering or many years of experience working on fracking operations.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction that involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formations at high pressure. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), there were approximately 23,000 hydraulically fractured wells in the United States in 2000. In 2015, the United States contained approximately 300,000 hydraulically fractured wells, which accounted for 67 percent of U.S. natural gas production and 51 percent of U.S. crude oil production.

Oil and natural gas production in North Dakota is concentrated in western North Dakota in the Bakken and Three Forks formations, which are located in the Williston Basin. The basin spans portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and two Canadian provinces (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). According to the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, there were 11,681 wells that were hydraulically fractured as of May 2017. In 2015, there were 10,619 active wells stimulated with hydraulic fracturing, and production from hydraulically fractured wells accounted for 95.7 percent of oil and gas production in the state.

This article focuses on fracking in North Dakota and state-specific, rather than federal, regulation of the process. The article begins with general information about fracking and applicable federal laws and regulations covering fracking and includes state-specific information about where fracking occurs and state laws and regulations covering fracking. In addition, this article includes relevant oil and natural gas data for North Dakota and surrounding states.

Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is a method of oil and natural gas extraction. The process involves injecting fluid into subterranean rock formations at high pressure. The high-pressure fluid produces a fracture network that allows crude oil and natural gas inside dense rocks to flow into a wellbore and be extracted at the surface. The fluid (known as frac fluid) contains between 98 percent and 99.5 percent water and sand; between 0.5 percent and 2 percent of the fluid is composed of chemical additives, which are used to stop the growth of microorganisms, prevent well casing corrosion, increase the rate at which the fluid is injected, and reduce pressure, among other uses.

As of 2015, thirty-one states produced crude oil and 33 states produced natural gas. States have primary regulatory authority over fracking and regulate the location and spacing of wells, drilling methods, lining of wells, the process of fracking itself, plugging wells, waste disposal, and site reclamation. In some states, environmental regulatory agencies regulate fracking; in others, fracking is regulated by oil and gas commissions.

While states have primary regulatory authority over fracking, oil and gas operators must meet requirements in the following federal environmental and public health laws, among others:

The Clean Water Act, which regulates all pollution discharges into surface waters and requires oil and gas operators to obtain permits to discharge produced water—fluids used during fracking as well as water that occurs naturally in oil or gas-bearing formations—into surface water.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, which requires oil and gas operators to report the release of hazardous substances during oil and operations and allows the EPA to investigate hazardous substance releases and require operators to restore areas affected by hazardous spills.

Oil and natural gas production in North Dakota is concentrated in western North Dakota in the Bakken and Three Forks formations, which are located in the Williston Basin. The basin spans portions of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and two Canadian provinces (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). According to the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, there were 11,681 wells that were hydraulically fractured as of May 2017. In 2015, there were 10,619 active wells stimulated with hydraulic fracturing, and production from hydraulically fractured wells accounted for 95.7 percent of oil and gas production in the state.

The map to the left shows the Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin. The map to the right shows the location of oil and gas production (in red) in North Dakota; an interactive, searchable version of the map to the right can be accessed here.

The Oil and Gas Division within the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources is responsible for regulating fracking in North Dakota. The division enforces regulations on the following:

As of March 2017, North Dakota regulations required fracking operators to complete and submit a list of chemicals used during the fracking process on the website FracFocus.org. Operators that consider a chemical or the concentration of a chemical to be a trade secret are allowed to withhold these chemicals from public disclosure and thus disclosure to potential competitors.

The information below shows proven crude oil and natural gas reserves in North Dakota and surrounding states from 2007 to 2015 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA defines proven (or proved) reserves as the "estimated volumes of hydrocarbon resources that analysis of geologic and engineering data demonstrates with reasonable certainty are recoverable under existing economic and operating conditions." Proven reserve estimates vary over time as prices fluctuate, technology advances (including the advancement of hydraulic fracturing technology), and states or operators discover new resources. For example, the price of natural gas increased in 2013. This led to more natural gas production because it became more economical to extract natural gas and sell at a higher price. This price increase led the EIA to increase its estimates of proven natural gas reserves.

Note: This section provides information about oil and gas production on private and state-owned lands. Information on oil and gas production on federal lands is accessible here. In addition, the section below provides information on all types of oil and gas production in the state, which includes wells that have not been hydraulically fractured.

The graph and table below provide information about crude oil production in North Dakota. Information from select surrounding states is provided for comparative purposes. Click the [Show] button on the table to expand it.

The graph and table below provide information about natural gas production in North Dakota. Information from select surrounding states is provided for comparative purposes. Click the [Show] button on the table to expand it.

Coalbed methane is natural gas (which is composed primarily of methane) that is formed in coal deposits or coal seams. Coalbed methane can be used in the same manner as natural gas. The table below shows coalbed methane production in North Dakota and neighboring states. Click the [Show] button to see the table.

Shale gas is natural gas located in shale plays, which are specific regions with natural gas resources. The table below shows shale gas production in North Dakota and neighboring states. Click the [Show] button to see the table.

The information below shows crude oil wells by state from 2000 to 2009 and natural gas wells by state from 2007 to 2015 from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). This data contains all wells, including wells that have not been hydraulically fractured. According to the EIA, "The quality and completeness of data is dependent on update lag times and the quality of individual state and commercial source databases." Click the [Show] buttons to expand the tables.

The bar graph and table present information about the number of crude oil wells in North Dakota. Information from select surrounding states is provided for comparative purposes.

The bar graph and table below present information about the number of producing natural gas wells in North Dakota. Information from select surrounding states is provided for comparative purposes.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 revised the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) to exclude “the underground injection of fluids or propping agents (other than diesel fuels) pursuant to fracking operations related to oil, gas, or geothermal production activities” from the EPA’s underground injection control program. These control programs are meant "to prevent underground injection which endangers drinking water sources." The 2005 act authorized state governments to regulate fracking as the process relates to underground drinking water sources, though state regulations must meet the minimum requirements outlined in federal laws that affect oil and gas wells, including the Clean Air Act (which regulates air pollutants emitted from oil and gas wells), the Clean Water Act (which regulates discharges of any pollutants into surface waters), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (which regulates the prevention and cleanup of released hazardous substances), among other laws.

To ensure drinking water quality, the EPA or authorized state agencies regulate Class II injection wells, which are underground shafts used to store salt water, carbon dioxide (CO2), brine, and other fluids, to dispose of waste, and to enhance production during the oil and gas extraction process. These agencies set rules and issue permits outlining minimum safety requirements related to the construction, operation, maintenance, plugging, and abandonment of injection wells.

The section below includes a discussion of the nationwide, rather than state-specific, economic impact of fracking. The information below summarizes studies and other reports on the economic impact of fracking throughout in the United States, and links to the studies are provided below.

A March 2015 study by the Brookings Institution, whose stated mission is "to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level," estimated that natural gas prices were 47 percent lower in 2013 than they would have been without an increase in fracking operations. Specifically, the study found that an increased natural gas supply attributed mainly to fracking had reduced gas prices by $3.45 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas. Further, the study"s authors, Catherine Hausman and Ryan Kellog, argued that residential consumer gas bills decreased $13 billion per year between 2007 to 2013 due to fracking. Additionally, Hausman and Ryan argued that increased fracking operations outpaced data collection on the environmental impacts of fracking. The authors found that state regulators face uncertainty about how to focus on mitigating specific environmental concerns as a result. The complete study can be accessed here.

In December 2014, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a federal office that provides budgetary information to Congress, published a study on the economic and budgetary effects of increased oil and natural gas production, including increased fracking use. The study"s authors argued that natural gas costs in the year 2040 would be 70 percent higher without increased development of natural gas through fracking. The authors also found that gross domestic product (GDP) in the year 2020 would be 0.7 percent higher than it would have been without increased natural gas production and that GDP would be 0.9 percent higher by 2040. The study"s authors concluded that federal tax revenues would be $35 billion higher in the year 2020 due to increased natural gas production. According to the CBO"s report, the Marcellus Shale (which includes Pennsylvania, New York, and West Virginia) accounted for 25 percent of total recoverable shale gas followed by the Haynesville-Bossier Shale in Texas and Louisiana at 15 percent, the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas at 10 percent, and the Barnett Shale in Texas at 10 percent (as of December 2014). The CBO report also found that the Eagle Ford and Austin Chalk Shales (both in Texas) accounted for 40 percent of recoverable shale oil (crude oil found in shale formations) followed by the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana at 20 percent (as of December 2014).

A February 2013 study by Aparna Mathur and Kevin A. Hassett at the American Enterprise Institute, which describes itself as "a community of scholars and supporters committed to expanding liberty, increasing individual opportunity and strengthening free enterprise," found that direct economic benefits from increased gas production by fracking generated approximately $36 billion in economic activity in 2011 (multiplying total U.S. natural gas production of 8.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2011 by an average price of $4.24 per thousand cubic feet). The authors argued that this economic value could lead to higher employment in the gas production and delivery sectors. The complete study can be accessed here.

A September 2013 study published by IHS, which describes itself as dedicated to "next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government," concluded that an increase in unconventional oil and natural gas production (production that uses technology such as fracking to force petroleum or gas from the ground and up through a well) increased disposable income per U.S. household by an average of $1,200 in the year 2012. The study"s authors argued that this increased income came in the form of lower energy bills and lower costs for goods and services. Additionally, the study"s authors said that up to 250,000 jobs could be created by the year 2020 due to fracking. The full study can be accessed here.

The section below includes a discussion of the nationwide, rather than state-specific, environmental impacts (air, water, and seismic) of fracking. The information below summarizes studies and other reports on the environmental impact of fracking throughout in the United States, and links to the studies are provided below.

Given frequent changes in U.S. oil and gas operations nationwide, the types of energy extracted, the number of wells drilled during a given period, and varying regional factors, estimates on the nationwide impact of fracking on air quality are difficult to calculate. As with any type of energy production, steps during the process (extraction, transportation, and transportation) can produce air pollutants at varying levels depending on the level of operations in a particular area. Air pollution sources during fracking can include road and pipeline construction, well drilling and completion, and natural gas processing, transportation, and storage. The main pollutants released during the fracking process include volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter. VOCs react with nitrogen oxides to produce ground-level ozone, also known as smog. These pollutants are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state agencies under the Clean Air Act.

A September 2015 study from researchers at Duke University found that fracking operators used approximately 250 billion gallons of water from 2005 to 2014 to extract oil and natural gas from hydraulically fracked wells. This accounted for less than 1 percent of total industrial water use in the United States. The study"s authors argued, "While fracking an unconventional shale gas or oil well takes much more water than drilling a conventional oil or gas well, the study finds that compared to other energy extraction methods, fracking is less water-intensive in the long run." Further, the study"s authors found that fracking operations produced approximately 210 billion gallons of wastewater. Specifically, the authors noted that hydraulically fracked oil wells produced half a barrel of wastewater for each barrel of oil produced. This is compared to a conventional oil well, which produced more than approximately three barrels of wastewater for each barrel of oil produced.

In December 2016, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a final report requested by Congress in 2010 on the impact of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on drinking water resources. The EPA report stated that there was "scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources in the United States under some circumstances." Specifically, the EPA concluded that, in some circumstances, poorly constructed drilling wells and incorrect wastewater management affected drinking water resources, particularly near drilling sites. According to the report, effects on drinking water "ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality to contamination that made private drinking wells unusable." An earlier draft version of the report, released in June 2015, concluded that fracking had not resulted in any widespread or systemic impact on drinking water quality. That conclusion was deleted in the report"s final version. The EPA concluded that its findings were limited in scope, reporting that "uncertainties and data gaps limited the EPA"s ability to fully assess impacts to drinking water resources both locally and nationally."

The term induced seismicity (or induced seismology) refers to seismic events that occur at higher than normal rates due to human activity. Induced seismic events (e.g., smaller earthquakes and tremors) can be the result of mining, damming rivers, or injecting fluids into underground wells during fracking.

USGS’s studies suggest that the actual hydraulic fracturing process is only very rarely the direct cause of felt earthquakes. While hydraulic fracturing works by making thousands of extremely small "microearthquakes," they are, with just a few exceptions, too small to be felt; none have been large enough to cause structural damage. As noted previously, underground disposal of wastewater co-produced with oil and gas, enabled by hydraulic fracturing operations, has been linked to induced earthquakes.

In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey found that wastewater disposal, rather than fracking, was the main cause of an increase in earthquakes throughout the central United States from 2009 to 2013. According to the agency, wastewater disposal wells raise pressure levels more than fracked wells. Larger amounts of fluid are used in wastewater disposal wells than in fracked wells; thus, wastewater disposal wells are more likely to produce induced seismic events than fracked wells.

A 2015 study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified three factors needed for a disposal well to induce seismic activities: sufficient pressure buildup due to the disposing of fluids, a fault of concern (a fault that is significantly stressed), and a path allowing increased pressure to move from a well to a fault. According to the EPA, as of 2015 few disposals wells had produced earthquakes with a magnitude above 4 on the Richter scale (for comparison, an earthquake with a magnitude of 3 is similar to the passage of a nearby truck).

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms North Dakota fracking. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Now that a landfill near Williston has been approved to operate as the state’s first, sealed landfill accepting radioactive oil field waste, workers are reminded that along with the more common kinds of accidents and hazards they face, they also need to be aware of potential exposures to radiation.

Common oil field accidents include oil rig accidents, site explosions, fires, blow outs, oil derrick falls, pipeline accidents, and oil service truck accidents. These accidents can result in serious physical injuries, including amputations and crush injuries, burns, breaks, fractures, head, neck, and back injuries, and even wrongful death. Oil fields also expose workers to toxic chemicals that may cause long term effects, and even expose them to radiation.

Naturally radioactive materials occur in the earth. As detailed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) these “Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials” (NORM) include: Uranium and its decay products

NORM may become concentrated and exposed as a result of manufacturing, mineral extraction, or water processing, or during the processes of extracting oil or gas from soil or rock, at which point NORM are viewed as “technologically enhanced” (TENORM). According to the EPA, “Wastes generated from oil and gas drilling must be properly managed to keep radionuclides in these wastes from spreading to surrounding areas.”

Scale inside of piping and tubing. The “API [American Petroleum Institute] found that the highest concentrations of radioactivity are in the scale in wellhead piping and in production piping near the wellhead,” but the largest volumes of scale were in separators, heater treaters, and gas dehydrators.

According to U.S. News and World Report, North Dakota’s oil industry produces roughly 100,000 tons of radioactive oil field waste per year, which previously was not allowed to be disposed of in landfills. Instead, radioactive waste was sent to landfill sites out of state. In June 2022, the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality gave the operators of the 13-Mile Landfill near Williston permission to accept 25,000 tons of radioactive oil field waste per year, conditioned upon obtaining a $1.125 million bond. The 13-Mile Landfill had been operating as a disposal site for other types of oil production waste. That landfill will now be able to accept radiation contaminated pipe, equipment, and “anything else associated with drilling activity.” The radioactive material must be placed at least 10 feet underground, then sealed with five feet of clay and soil.

The Williston landfill site is only the second site in North Dakota to be approved for radioactive waste disposal. A “slurry well” near Watford City had started processing radioactive waste with saltwater and injecting it 7,500 feet deep the prior year, but that well is unable to accept contaminated equipment.

The North Dakota Department of Health oversees health impacts of TENORM exposure in the oil and gas industry. Workers should follow safety precautions and procedures and be knowledgeable about areas where they might be exposed and their levels of exposure. The North Dakota Department of Health recommends the following strategies to reduce external radiation exposure from TENORM: Minimize the amount of time spent near sources of radiation.

The ND Department of Health also has recommendations for oil and gas industry employers, including posting warning signs on TENORM storage/transport containers and storage areas, monitoring personnel’s exposure limits, posting notice to employees of location of ND Radiological Health Rules, and enforcing enforce TENORM storage and security.

If you are concerned that you may be suffering an illness or injury due to exposure to radiation as an oil and gas worker, Larson Law Firm P.C. can help. Our attorneys have experience representing injured oil and gas workers and those negligently exposed to toxic substances. We have offices in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo. Contact us to schedule a free consultation or call us today at 701-484-HURT.

Mark Larson is a Certified Civil Trial Specialist and Certified Civil Pre-Trial Specialist focusing on personal injury, motor vehicle, wrongful death, and oil field claims. Since 1979, Larson Law Firm has served the injured throughout North Dakota. Read more about Mark V. Larson