Biggest Oil Producing States: Texas, North Dakota?

From the Minot Daily News: Government and industry officials believe North Dakota's oil patch contains more than twice the amount of oil previously estimated and that the state's already record crude production will double within the decade.
If the forecast is correct, North Dakota could leapfrog in a few years from the fourth-biggest oil producing state to No. 2, trailing only Texas.
"It's a pretty rosy picture," said Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources. "We have a huge amount of drilling still in front of us."
Helms said the state currently is pumping about 350,000 barrels of crude per day and was on pace to produce about 110 million barrels in 2010, up from 79.7 million last year and more than double the amount produced less than three years ago.
Record rig activity pushed by strong crude prices and refinements in drilling technology could result in North Dakota seeing a twofold increase in production. The drilling technology alone has cut the amount of time needed to complete a well from 65 days in 2008 to about 25 days.
"We are now looking at the possibility of 700,000 barrels a day and we see that coming in the next four to seven years," Helms said.
At that rate, North Dakota would surpass California and Alaska based on those states' current production, said Steven Grape, the domestic reserves project manager for the U.S. Department of Energy's information administration.
http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/550601/N-D--oil-patch-could-double-production.html?nav=5010
Well, they think they will be second, until the Obama and Reid administration figures out a way to screw North Dakota by increasing regulation and shutting down oil fields.