North Dakota oil producers increased production in October in a spasm of activity as signs emerge of a prolonged slump, a state report finds. The North Dakota Industrial Commission reported 1.17 million barrels oil produced per day on average for October, up about a half percent from the previous month. The all-time high was 1.22 million bpd in December 2014. Lower crude oil prices are starving energy companies of the capital needed to maintain vibrant exploration and production operations. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark price for crude oil, is off 37 percent from this date in 2014. Rig counts, a metric used to gauge the health of the upstream sector, are […]