Rare Gas Drilling Permits Issued in SE ND

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's Oil and Gas Division has issued four drilling permits to a company that wants to explore for natural gas in Emmons and McIntosh counties — in southeastern North Dakota.

State Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms says it's rare for drilling permits to be issued that far east of U.S. Highway 83.

Helms says Strata-X Energy will be determining whether future drilling there would be economical. He says that another company drilled wells in Emmons County in 2006 and concluded they were not economical.

Denver-based Strata-X says that's because the wells weren't drilled on the Niobrara gas formation, where it plans to explore.