After Continental Resources suspended drilling in North Dakota and started shutting in operating wells, now another company has followed: Oasis Petroleum. Reuters quotes unnamed sources that said the company has started to halt drilling operations in the Bakken shale, which spans North Dakota, Montana, and two Canadian provinces. Within several weeks, the sources told Reuters, all drilling will cease. The news was only to be expected after Continental—the largest oil producer in North Dakota— started shrinking production. With prices close to historic lows, it was only a matter of time before well shut-ins and frac holidays began. North Dakota’s oil production has fallen by about 300,000 bpd so far, and counting. Earlier in April, official data from the state’s administration showed a quarter of all oil wells had been shut in, cutting production by some 260,000 bpd. That was before the Continental news came out. Oasis is a much […]