The recent spurt in oil production in eastern Montana probably will continue for at least a year, a top Montana oil and gas official said, but efforts to find a similar big “resource play” in northcentral Montana are not panning out yet. In another top trend, Tom Richmond, longtime administrator for the Montana Board of Oil and Gas, said natural gas production at Montana’s older wells will continue to lag due to a glut of natural gas on the world market because of large, successful shale natural gas development via hydraulic fracturing in Texas, Pennsylvania and New York. “That plentiful production of natural gas has caused the price consumers pay to plummet,” Richmond said. “That’s probably good for the country, including making an industrial resurgence possible by reducing business overhead costs. But it has hurt Montana counties such as Blaine, Phillips and Hill that rely on natural gas production […]