A stark breakdown from North Dakota projecting how falling oil prices could affect production was formulated using proprietary corporate data and a state official’s personal model. Late last Thursday, the Department of Mineral Resources caused a stir in world oil markets by releasing slides from a presentation to the state legislature that included a range of output forecasts based on different oil price scenarios, including one showing production would begin to decline by the middle of this year if crude prices remained at current levels. The projections presented by Lynn Helms, head of the state’s energy regulatory agency, cut to the quick of a pivotal question for global oil traders and executives: How quickly will U.S. shale producers, particularly those in the booming Bakken of North Dakota, respond to the collapse in oil prices? While consultants and analysts have been frantically reviewing and […]