A stretch of brutally cold weather with wind chills as low as 70 below zero forced North Dakota oil producers to shut down upwards of 700,000 barrels of production per day, and restoring it could take a month or more.

Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources, said it became apparent about a week ago that the cold snap would cause the state to lose production. Helms said the decline peaked earlier this week, and wells are now being slowly brought back into production.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

Helms said the production loss was attributable to the inability of infrastructure to gather and process associated natural gas production in the bitterly cold temperatures.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

The cold weather also caused considerable equipment failures that led to spills of crude oil and produced water. Helms said DMR has received 60 separate spill reports, most of which could not have been prevented in the freezing conditions. But he said the good news is most of the spills were contained on site and will be cleaned up as the weather warms in the coming weeks.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

Helms' remarks were part of his monthly news conference during which he announced final production figures for the month of November. The state averaged 1.278 million barrels per day, up about two percent from the October figure. He said the state set a new record for gas capture, totaling just shy of 3.3 billion cubic feet per day.

Click here to read or download Helms' Director's Cut. Click here to read a Bismarck Tribune article about the production drop and cold weather spills.

North Dakota stands to lose more than 2,500 oil and gas industry jobs if a new fee on methane emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency is allowed to stand. 

The fee, which the industry refers to as a tax, was part of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act. It called for a Waste Emissions Charge for methane from oil and gas facilities that report emissions of more than 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. The EPA fee starts at $900 per metric ton of methane emissions in 2024, increasing to $1,200 for 2025, and $1,500 for 2026 and beyond.

Lynn Helms, director of the ND Department of Mineral Resources, said there are 2,585 stripper wells in the state that have no access to natural gas sales, so the modest amount of methane they produce is routinely flared. Helms said the wells are marginally profitable, and the new EPA fee may force them to be shut down.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

The EPA news release announcing the fee refers to methane as a climate “super pollutant” that is more potent than carbon dioxide and responsible for one third of the global warming the EPA blames on greenhouse gases. The EPA justifies the fee, stating that reduction of the methane emissions is one of the most cost-effective actions the US can take "to slow the rate of rapidly rising global temperatures."

Helms said his department examined the likely impact of the Biden EPA fee, and concluded it would inflict significant damage on the state's economy.

Click here to listen to Helms' comments.

The American Petroleum Institute is urging Congress to repeal the methane fee. 

“As the world looks to US energy producers to provide stability in an increasingly unstable world, this punitive tax increase is a serious misstep that undermines America’s energy advantage,” Dustin Meyers, API senior vice-president of policy, economics, and regulatory affairs, said in a statement. “While we support smart federal methane regulation, this proposal creates an incoherent, confusing regulatory regime that will only stifle innovation and undermine our ability to meet rising energy demand. We look forward to working with Congress to repeal the [Inflation Reduction Act’s] misguided new tax on American energy.”

A technical review committee advising North Dakota's Clean Sustainable Energy Authority has advanced two hydrogen fertilizer projects that are competing for a controversial forgivable loan of up to $125 million.

To be eligible for the money, the fertilizer plant must use hydrogen produced by electrolysis. The language approved by the 2023 ND Legislature, and later re-approved during a special session, was controversial because some legislators viewed it as a carve-out for wind developer NextEra Energy, which is proposing to build a fertilizer plant at the Spiritwood complex east of Jamestown.

However, a competing application has also been submitted by Prairie Horizon, a partnership between Marathon Petroleum and TC Energy. The two companies are part of the Heartland Hydrogen Hub that has been granted nearly $1 billion from the US Department of Energy for clean hydrogen development. The Prairie Horizon fertilizer operation would be sited near Marathon's refinery west of Dickinson. 

The loan would be issued by the Bank of North Dakota, and be forgiven once the fertilizer project is producing commercial product. The motion to approve the projects was made by Kelvin Hullet, Chief Business Development Officer for BND. Hullet's motion advanced the two projects as feasible with conditions to be determined, namely how should the bank determine if a project is sufficiently complete.

Click here to listen to Hullet's comments.

The technical committee also received nine other projects seeking grant and/or loan funding from CSEA. Members voted to recommend seven of the nine as feasible. The Authority is scheduled to meet Tuesday, January 23, to hear presentations from the applicants. Click here to see the CSEA agenda.

Any projects recommended for funding by CSEA will be considered by the Industrial Commission, which has the final authority on loan or grant approval. NDIC is scheduled to meet January 24. 

A day is coming soon when the North Dakota oil industry will become a customer looking for carbon dioxide to recover more oil from the Bakken and other oil formations in the state.

ND Petroleum Council President Ron Ness, who was interviewed this week on the radio program Plain Talk, said the use of CO2 to enhance oil recovery (EOR) is being commercially demonstrated in Bowman County, but there is much more potential for its use in other oil plays. Ness said as crude is pumped out of an oil-bearing formation, pressure in the wellbore naturally drops and production declines. To get more oil out of the rock, he said the industry uses EOR to re-pressurize the formation.

Click here to listen to Ness' comments.

The problem the industry will have to face, Ness said, is there isn't enough CO2 produced in North Dakota to meet EOR needs.

Click here to listen to Ness' comments.

Ness said to achieve its EOR potential, the industry will need to develop more pipelines to transport carbon dioxide, similar to the existing line from the Great Plains Synfuels plant to Canadian oilfields, and one now bringing CO2 to Bowman County. He said there is considerable controversy surrounding the proposed development by Summit Carbon Solutions of a pipeline that will bring CO2 from Midwest ethanol plants for sequestration in North Dakota. The public has raised concerns about its safety, so Ness said he has requested instruction on CO2 pipelines to educate himself about their operation.

Click here to listen to Ness' comments.

Ness said the oil industry has nothing to do with Summit's CO2 pipeline project, but said it's possible the petroleum industry may some day become a customer for the carbon dioxide the pipeline may bring to North Dakota.

Click here and advance to the 1:40 mark to listen to the full Plain Talk interview with Ness.

A grassroots coalition of school districts from across North Dakota is continuing its effort to gather data about districts that are struggling to meet facility needs because the buildings are outdated, but costs to replace them are beyond the means of local taxpayers.

The Western Dakota Energy Association is an active part of the coalition, which was initiated by Josh Johnson, the superintendent in the Valley City School District, which is housed in a building constructed in 1919. Johnson launched the effort in June 2023 with an email to a few of his peers operating out of similarly aging facilities, including Dickinson Asst. Superintendent Keith Harris (a WDEA board member), who urged Johnson to include WDEA in the coalition effort.

Johnson, who was interviewed today on the KFYR Radio program Dakota Talk, said over the past few months, there has been growing interest in helping the coalition identify solutions to funding challenges.

Click here to listen to Johnson's comments.

Johnson said Valley City and other districts face the choice of deciding to spend taxpayer dollars to renovate an old building, or whether it would be better to try to replace it with a modern facility.

Click here to listen to Johnson's comments.

Johnson said there is a wide disparity in the ability of North Dakota school districts to generate property tax revenue to fund a school construction project. He said spreading the cost of a new building among a district's patrons can cost individual property owners 10 times as much in a rural district versus a more-populous urban district.

Click here to listen to Johnson's comments.

Johnson said the coalition has gathered considerable data about the age and condition of existing school facilities, as well as details about the valuation of residential, commercial and industrial properties across the state. He said it is now developing a survey aimed at filling gaps in the information, which will be shared with the ND Legislature's interim School Funding Task Force.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is making some equipment upgrades to improve the reliability of Antelope Valley Station, a coal-fired power plant near Beulah.

Basin Electric implemented its Aging Substation Infrastructure Replacement Initiative in 2018 as the cooperative’s approach to strengthen and modernize its transmission infrastructure and help ensure reliability for the cooperative’s members. 

“Upgrading equipment and components helps to improve transmission system reliability by decreasing the chances of equipment failures, mis-operations, and extended outages due to a lack of spare parts,” said Chad Kuntz, Basin supervisor of Electrical Engineering. To that end, Antelope Valley is replacing aging equipment in the facility’s substation with newer more modern equipment. 

“Antelope Valley Station is over 40 years old and there are several pieces of substation equipment that have reached the end of serviceable life,” said Ryan Drevlow, Basin Electric electrical engineer III. “Many of the manufacturers of the existing equipment are no longer in business which makes procuring spare parts difficult to impossible. Because of this, maintaining the existing equipment becomes more difficult.” 

High voltage circuit breakers, disconnect switches, instrument transformers, surge arresters, and station service equipment are just some of the items to be replaced. Pending material delivery, the equipment upgrade project is scheduled to be completed in phases by the end of 2028. 

“Technology in the utility industry has evolved significantly since Antelope Valley was built,” said Drevlow. “This project will increase reliability of the substation by installing equipment in line with today’s industry standards."

The Energy Progress & Innovation Conference, which has become an international event attended by 2,000 or more people, is scheduled to get underway next week at the Bismarck Event Center.

The gathering begins Tuesday, January 23, with exhibitor setup and a social that is open to the public. The formal program begins the following morning with opening comments and keynote remarks from noted author and energy expert Robert Bryce. He is the host of the Power Hungry Podcast and the executive producer of the feature-length documentary: Juice: How Electricity Explains the World, which is available on numerous streaming platforms. 

Holly Hoffman, a professional motivational speaker, will deliver a keynote to close the opening day session. Hoffman is a South Dakota native who was the last remaining member of the Espada Tribe and the last woman standing on Season 21 of CBS’ hit reality show “Survivor Nicaragua.” Through that experience, and others throughout her life, she was inspired to share her message of survival.

Thursday's general session will also feature keynote presentations from Bryce and Hoffman. The agenda also includes several dozen breakout sessions on a wide range of energy-related topics. Click here to see the full program brochure.

EPIC began as the Energy Generation Conference, and has been held every year since 1978. Click here to learn more about its history or watch a video looking back over the past 45 years.

by Jeff Eslinger | ND County News Editor

North Dakota County Commissioners are about to do something they haven’t done since 1985: Have their own meeting, not in conjunction with any other county officials.

The ND County Commissioners Association (NDCCA) Board of Directors in December agreed that commissioners across the state should hear from key players in state government and other thought leaders and have a chance to confer with them and each other on issues like the new NDPERS retirement system, state audits of counties, and various funding topics. The board has scheduled its County Commissioners Summit for March 20. 

In legislative years, the County Day at the Capitol is held in March, so this off-year presents a great opportunity for a meeting on interim legislative work and other issues of concern to commissioners. To be clear, the summit is not displacing the NDACo annual meeting, which is held in October to discuss and vote on legislative resolutions and to elect officers to the NDCCA Board. The Summit planned for March will focus exclusively on policy issues.

A tentative agenda is being developed, and will include panel discussions with thought leaders on a variety of issues concerning county government, such as elections, retirement and more. Commissioners formed the NDCCA in 1905 and have held annual meetings every year since then. The annual meetings of NDACo and NDCCA were first combined into one event in 1986.

Click here to register for the Summit.

Gov. Doug Burgum will deliver his 2024 State of the State Address at 10:00 a.m. MST Tuesday, January 23, in Dorothy Stickney Auditorium located within May Hall at Dickinson State University.

The event is free and open to the public. Doors will open at 9:00 a.m. MST. Attendees must use the entrance to Stoxen Library, which is connected to May Hall. Members of the public will need to go through a screening process at the entry point and are encouraged to leave backpacks and purses at home. Click here for parking information.

Pre-address events including music will begin around 9:45 a.m. The governor’s remarks will begin around 10:15 a.m. after opening remarks from DSU President Steve Easton, state House Majority Leader Mike Lefor of Dickinson, Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller and the National Anthem.

Music will be provided by the 2023 Governor’s Band and Chorus, which are the Washburn High School Band and Williston High School Chorale. A public reception in May Hall will immediately follow the address, followed by a media availability with Burgum at approximately 12:30 p.m. in the venue lobby. 

The address will be livestreamed on the Governor’s Office website.

Governor Doug Burgum has announced that 299 public and non-public elementary schools in North Dakota will have the opportunity to receive the All Kids Bike Learn-to-Ride Kindergarten PE Program, giving 9,000 students the opportunity to learn to ride a bicycle in the 2023-24 school year.

The goal is to gain private sector partners to ensure every kindergarten class in the state has access to the program, making North Dakota the first state to provide statewide programming.

All Kids Bike, a nonprofit organization equipping schools with everything needed to teach children to ride a bike, was awarded a $1,568,000 grant from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund to bring its Learn-to-Ride PE Program to elementary schools throughout the state. Additionally, the Governor’s office is working to secure additional funding needed to ensure the program is available to kindergarteners statewide.

“Learning to ride a bicycle provides a lifelong skill that promotes physical activity and independence and gives students another mode of transportation as they get older,” Burgum said, noting the previous financial support from MDU Resources Foundation to establish the All Kids Bike program at Northridge Elementary School in Bismarck in November 2022. “We’re grateful for the support of Scheels and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway who have signed on to this incredible opportunity. With the state offering a 3-to-1 match, we are seeking additional private sector partners to make the Learn-to-Ride program available statewide and make North Dakota the first state in the nation to provide this opportunity for every kindergarten student.”

Sometimes looks can be deceiving. A photo taken on a sunny day can disguise the fact that the temperature is brutally cold. But that's not the case with this week's Wise Roads shots. It's quite evident from the photos captured by the high-resolution cameras on WDEA's Wise Roads weather stations that the conditions are not too pleasant. Photos from Wise Roads cameras are updated continuously throughout the daylight hours on the Wise Roads web page.

The Wise Roads project (Weather Information System to Effectively Reduce Oilfield Delays and Disruptions) was developed by WDEA to increase the efficiency of the movement of oilfield truck traffic. Most weather stations were placed in the core area of Bakken production, focusing on Dunn, McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams Counties. The project provides more accurate weather information to county road managers, especially about rain events, to minimize the need to impose weight restrictions when gravel roads get wet. It was developed in partnership with NDAWN, which maintains the stations for WDEA. The project was also assisted with a $250,000 grant from the Oil & Gas Research Council.

Fifty new stations have been installed, 39 of which are located in the four core oil-producing counties. Prior to the start of the project, Dunn and McKenzie Counties had just one station each, Mountrail County had three and Williams County had four. Weather station data and high-resolution photos can be found at wiseroadsnd.com. Additional information is also available from NDAWN. 

Featured shots this week are clockwise from upper left, Sunny Slope with a dusting of fresh snowfall, and Sunny Slope the following day after fierce, gusty winds blew the snow off the frozen Little Missouri River; Center, with a view of Milton R. Young Station and an obviously strong northwest wind; and Dickinson pre-dawn this morning, with light pillars streaking upward in the frosty air. Click on the link for a high-resolution image.