FYI @Smokin Joe
Earlier this week the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) estimated that 3,600 wells in the state were shut in during March and an additional 1,000 wells have stopped producing so far this month. Roughly 16,000 wells were producing in February. The production cuts from these shut-in wells are estimated to total 260 Mbbl/d. The shut-ins coincide with regulatory changes since the price collapse to suspend requirements that operators either plug and abandon wells that have been shut in for 12 months or bring them back on-line. The regulator has also eased restrictions on DUCs, allowing operators to delay completion activity beyond the normal period of within 12 months of drilling operations. These two regulatory changes will be in effect until WTI reaches at least $50/bbl for 90 days.
Excellent move by the NDIC (Lynn Helms used to work for Hess, about the time I was doing wells for them, he's an old hand.).
This permits the oil to stay in the ground until the price comes back up, letting operators cut costs and not sell oil at a loss, saving on water disposal costs as well.
At the same time, because the State's extraction tax is based on a percentage of the oil revenue, that will allow the State to make more money later in tax revenues as the oil is selling at a higher price. (it's a win-win),
