The state's oil patch is drilling at record levels and shows little sign of slowing down. The 152.9 million barrels of crude oil produced in 2011 set a record, surpassing the previous year's mark by nearly 40 million barrels, according to the state Industrial Commission. The number of wells in the state jumped from 6,726 in February to a record 6,921 in March, Hicks said.
North Dakota owes its rapid rise from No. 9 in just six years to improved horizontal drilling techniques in the rich Bakken shale and Three Forks formations in the western part of the state.
"No. 2, who would have thought?" said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, which represents several hundred companies working in the state's oil patch. "In 1999, we had zero rigs working and people left this industry for dead in North Dakota. Technology, geology, price and the business climate changed that."
Ness and Hicks said the achievement is bittersweet, as North Dakota continues to surpass states that have seen a decrease in oil production, including California and Louisiana.