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as the industry continues to fine-tune cutting through dense rock to the oil trapped nearly two miles beneath the surface. • Helms said the "enormous efficiency increase" is due in part to the increased use of diamond-tipped bits and the growing number of so-called walking drill rigs. Those machines are capable of moving between well sites on hydraulic feet without having to be disassembled. • But advances in drilling techniques that have catapulted North Dakota to the nation's No.2 oil behind Texas have a price. Helms said a completed well in the Bakken and Three Forks formations costs about $10 million, about double that of a well drilled in 2007. • Helms said most of additional expense comes during hydraulic fracturing, a process that uses pressurized water, chemicals and grit to break open oil-bearing rock. Competition for hydraulic fracturing crews adds to the cost, as well as an increase in the price of proppants -- tiny ceramic particles that prop open rock and provide a pathway for oil to flow. • About 350 wells were awaiting hydraulic fracturing services in June, state records show. • North Dakota drillers produced almost 20 million barrels of oil in June from a record 7,352 wells, said Alison Ritter, a spokeswoman for the department. About 5,560 wells produced 11.5 million barrels in the same month one year ago. • State and industry officials say 99 percent of rigs drilling in the two formations hit oil, while nine of 10 are profitable. A typical well drilled in North Dakota will produce about 540,000 barrels of oil during its 29-year lifespan, state data shows. • Helms has estimated that it will take at least 15 years to complete drilling in the Bakken formation.
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