American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2018 - 102

ConventionSection: North Dakota Petroleum Council
praises, and that continues with the current
chief executive, Governor Doug Burgum,
who has titled his presentation at the NDPC
meeting "Innovation, Not Regulation."
Ness says the governor appreciates
technology. "He is pushing ideas such as
the I-pipe program, in which six operators
got together at the Energy and Environmental Research Center. They are doing
almost a Shark Tank-type project on
pipeline monitoring technology. The state
put in some oil and gas research money
and partnered with them to hold applied
field tests for the latest and greatest technologies out there, in terms of gathering
line monitoring systems," he describes.
Presentations on the newest technologies being deployed in the Bakken Shale
will be one of the key elements at the association's annual meeting, describes
NDPC Vice President Kari Cutting. She
adds that a related highlight will be a
series of "mini-TED talks," following the
original concept of presentations on Technology, Entertainment and Design.
"The Bakken is very much a technology
play, as most of the country now is learning," Cutting says. "In order to extract as
much of the resources as the industry
can, operators are turning over technology
almost daily. The association wants to
highlight some of that technology. It also
knows that technology from North Dakota
is being transported all across the country
and globe. It is a very exciting time to be
talking about technology, particularly
technology that has been developed because of the Bakken Shale."
Impacting Industry
Blu Hulsey, NDPC chairman, points
to the state's rig count as one example of
technology's impact on the oil and gas
industry. In August 2014, 194 rigs were
running in North Dakota and production
was at an historic high; this month, 60
rigs operate in the state, and production
exceeds the 2014 mark.
"What that means for rigs and crews is
that industry's personnel demand is nowhere
near where it was in 2014," assesses
Hulsey, senior vice president for government
and regulatory affairs for Continental Resources Inc. in Oklahoma City. "Operators
have become more efficient in drilling at
higher rates. During the downturn at the
beginning of 2015, industry was required
to figure out how to make sure it was developing in the most cost efficient manner.
Those lessons helped industry to come
out of that downturn."
Hulsey says those lessons include

knowledge of the best drilling techniques
and stimulation practices for the Bakken,
and the additional technologies that promise to help operators gain resources faster.
Other advances take advantage of innovations such as drill pipe and bits with
built-in monitoring and communications
capabilities, and bottom-hole equipment
that informs the operator of surrounding
temperatures and pressures. Those types
of processes really are going to benefit
the industry going forward, he predicts.
"Producers will continue to push the
envelope with lateral lengths," he suggests. "As to how long they ultimately
will become, the answer is whatever
makes economic sense. At a certain
point, you lose economic incentives to
continue drilling, because you either
will break down or suffer pressure or
efficiency losses. That is with the current
process though. Who knows what will
change in the onshore industry in the
next few years."
Hulsey says Continental Resources
considers infrastructure another vital component to its operations, with the company
monitoring long-term development plans
and resource allocation within North
Dakota and neighboring states. A lack of
right-sized projects constitutes a key
reason the state's operators suffer from a
basis differential, he points out.
"North Dakota is far from markets, so
operators have to transport their product,"
he notes. "Pipes in the ground are the
most efficient way to move oil and gas.
Making sure that the industry has pipes
for its growth, and infrastructure for
natural gas and liquids that are being
produced, is a key component going forward, to make sure the North Dakota
stays in that growth mode."
Annual Meeting
The meeting opens Monday, Sept. 24,
with the Bakken 2.0 education session,

presentations devoted to the potential and
possibilities from the state's major resource
play, Cutting says. Speakers will discuss
energy's role in the United States and
across the globe, changes coming to the
state's pipeline system, and the future of
the Bakken play.
Technology will be the dominant theme
of the agenda for the meeting's remaining
two days, with the mini-TED talks on
Tuesday afternoon. She notes one of the
presentations will highlight a Bakken-developed iPhone application that allows
users to record daily well pad inspections.
"The app looks for any maintenance
issues, particularly focusing on potential
fugitive emission leaks," she says. "The
neat thing is that 2017 was the first year
that the iPhone was intrinsically safe
enough to use on an industrial site. Very
quickly, as soon as iPhones were declared
intrinsically safe, applications were developed to help workers document inspections, and send those results directly
to record keeping or immediately generate
a work order for a maintenance fix."
Other topics covered by TED presenters
include drones and artificial intelligence,
automated oil field applications, new
pipeline monitoring technologies, and the
latest in enhanced oil recovery methods,
Cutting describes.
She adds that Governor Burgum will
complement the TED presentations in
his remarks to the association, with a
discussion of his "Innovate, Not Regulate"
governing mantra. "If there are technology
applications that can make things better,
then we should be encouraging companies
to innovate, and showing agencies that a
technical approach is better than regulating," Cutting describes. "We have identified issues in the field: Let us figure
out a solution. Industry is better at doing
that quickly and in less time than it takes
to do a rule making, which generally
takes months or years."
r

North Dakota Oil, Gas Industry
Keeps Overturning Obstacles
BISMARCK, N.D.-Revenues generated by Bakken Shale production poured
$217 million into North Dakota's treasury
in June, thanks in large part to taxes and
payments from the 36.7 million oil barrels
produced in April, state statistics indicate.
Those funds should continue for the fore-

102 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

seeable future, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration noting that 20
of the nation's 100 largest oil fields,
measured by reserves, are in North Dakota.
The state's oil production has ranked behind only Texas since 2012.
Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2018

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