North Dakota oil production drops below 1M barrels daily

North Dakota's oil production in August dropped below 1 million barrels per day for the first time in more than two years.

The Department of Mineral Resources says the state produced an average of 981,039 barrels of oil daily in August, down from 1.029 million barrels of oil daily in July.

North Dakota surpassed the million-barrel-per-day mark in April 2014 and set a production record in December 2014 at 1.22 million barrels daily.

North Dakota also produced 1.64 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in August, down from 1.69 billion cubic feet daily in July.

Oil production numbers typically lag at least two months.

There were 33 drill rigs operating in North Dakota's oil patch Thursday, down from the high of 218 in May 2012.