North Dakota Passes Alaska to Become Nation's Second-Leading Oil Producer

North Dakota has passed Alaska to become the second-leading oil-producing state in the nation, trailing only Texas.
   
State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms tells the Grand Forks Herald (http://bit.ly/L6cLo1) that North Dakota oil production in March averaged 575,490 barrels daily, another record.

The crude is coming from a record 6,636 wells.

Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission statistician Steve McMains says that state pumped 17.5 million barrels in March, with a daily average of 567,480 barrels.
   
McMains says Alaska's oil production has slipped about 15 million barrels a year since 2008.   
  
North Dakota was the ninth-largest oil-producing state just six years ago, but the state's oil production has nearly quadrupled since March 2007.

North Dakota passed California in January as the third-largest oil-producing state in the nation.