In North Dakota, the rate of natural gas flaring (which is natural gas burned at the wellhead of the production site rather than being captured) declined to an average of 7.5% this year through September. This decline in natural gas flaring resulted in producers capturing 92.5% of produced natural gas, which meets the state’s goal to capture 91% of the natural gas produced in the state. In early 2020, natural gas production fell rapidly as a result of COVID-19-related impacts, from 3.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in March to 1.9 Bcf/d in May, but returned to pre-pandemic levels almost as rapidly, reaching 2.9 Bcf/d by October of the same year. From April 2020 to September 2021, producers met the state capture target for every month except July 2021.
