In 2007, North Dakota ranked ninth in crude oil production out of 31 oil-producing states and two federal offshore areas. North Dakota produced an average of 123,447 barrels of oil per day in 2007.

This month’s “Economic Brief,” a monthly publication from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, focuses on crude oil production in North Dakota and the nation.

North Dakota’s total oil production in 2007 of approximately 45 million barrels comprised 2.4 percent of the nation’s total production. Texas, Alaska and California, the top states in U.S. crude oil production, captured nearly half of total oil production in the nation (47.5 percent or 877 million barrels).

Total crude oil production in the U.S. (1.8 billion barrels of oil in 2007) has declined every year since 1985, except for a slight growth in production in 1991. From 1985 to 2007, nationwide crude oil production decreased an average of 2.5 percent per year.

North Dakota’s oil production increased sharply in the late 1970s and peaked in 1984 at just less than 53 million barrels. Production declined throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s. After a small rise in the mid-1990s, production slowed again. Production dropped to 29 million barrels by 2003. Since 2004, crude oil production in North Dakota has grown an average of 11.2 percent per year and reached approximately 45 million barrels in 2007.

“The increase in oil production has had a corresponding increase in population for many western counties,” says Richard Rathge, State Data Center director. “Our state’s per-capita income has also grown sharply. Per-capita income growth in 2007 was the fifth largest in the nation, up 6.4 percent from 2006.”

Sixteen of North Dakota’s 53 counties produced crude oil in 2007. Bowman County was North Dakota’s largest crude oil producer in 2007 (17.7 million barrels), followed by McKenzie (6.3 million barrels), Billings (4.8 million barrels), Williams (4.6 million barrels), Mountrail (2.4 million barrels), Dunn (2 million barrels), Bottineau (1.9 million barrels) and Stark (1.6 million barrels) counties.

An additional eight counties produced the remaining 3.8 million barrels of the state’s overall crude oil production in 2007.

NDSU Agriculture Communication