“Seriously, if companies can work in Alaska, they can learn to work in North Dakota.”
I worked in the Alaska North Slope oil patch for 26 years. Bad weather is nothing new. Production goes up sometimes but it inevitably goes down. That’s just the way it is.
Oil wells typically produce large quantities of oil right after they are drilled, then gradually taper off. By that time all of the big expenses have (hopefully) been paid for. They do not get capped unless the operating expense exceeds the value of the oil being produced.
Just so. I’m only an onlooker. But one obvious thing that occurs to me is that they should gradually build up gas storage facilities. Then they can fill these in the summer and keep them moving out on pipelines in the winter, to even things out.
Either that kind of solution, or live with the fact that it’s seasonal, like some of the Canadian gold mines.