BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota’s top oil regulator says 2020 will be known for the rapid collapse of crude prices in the spring, leading to dismantled rigs and idled wells.
State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms told the Bismarck Tribune that “all in all, it was a pretty terrible year for the industry.”
Oil companies filed for bankruptcy and thousands of people in North Dakota’s oil patch lost jobs during the year
Still, it wasn’t the worst downturn Helms has seen in the 40 years he has either worked in the oil industry or regulated it. Two others top this one, including a bust in 1999 and 2000, brought on by overproduction and a poor economy, as well as another in the mid-1980s when oil prices plummeted and the number of rigs operating in the state fell from 150 into the teens.
Helms does not expect activity to bounce back quickly in North Dakota’s oil patch.
“As we look forward to the next year, it doesn’t look very promising in terms of growth,” he said. “I think we have to get out more than a year, maybe a year and a half, before we have the prospect of seeing oil and gas prices that result in sustained growth.”
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