Senate rejects study on creating state-owned oil and gas association

The North Dakota Senate voted down Senate Concurrent Resolution 40-26 on March 10, 2025, rejecting a request to direct Legislative Management to study whether the state should establish a state-owned association for oil and gas development and production.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee recommended a do-not-pass on SCR 40-26. Senator Angus, presenting the committee report, said the committee’s concerns included the high capital requirements of oil production, intense competition from large multinational firms and the risk that a state-owned enterprise would create ethical and market conflicts with existing private industry.

"Oil exploration and production requires multiple billions of dollars in investment," Senator Angus said, summarizing his committee’s reasons. "This is a risky business."

Angus outlined additional objections voiced in committee: the dominance of multinational oil companies with established infrastructure and expertise; the potential perception that a state-owned operator would receive preferential drilling acreage or an unfair tax treatment; difficulties attracting technical talent under public-employment constraints; and governance and efficiency problems common to many state-run enterprises. He also recounted decades of experience working with state-run oil enterprises in other countries and described how slow decision making and corruption were recurring problems in those settings.

A different senator echoed a historical argument for state control of certain enterprises, invoking earlier North Dakota efforts to create the Bank of North Dakota and the state mill and elevator as templates for state-led economic tools. That speaker framed the proposal in part as a response to perceived outside influence in state affairs.

The chair called the question on final passage. When votes were recorded the concurrent resolution failed; the chamber announced, "Nay. The concurrent resolution has failed." The transcript does not record a numeric roll-call tally for final passage.

Why it matters: SCR 40-26 would have asked Legislative Management to study whether the state should become an active participant in oil and gas production—an idea that, if advanced, could raise questions about state competition with private companies, use of state funds, legal and tax treatment, and oversight of any state-controlled production entity.

The Senate moved on to its next items of business after the vote.