By LAUREN DONOVAN

WILLISTON - "Watchin' the Bakken" would set the right tone for Tuesday's Williston Basin Oil Summit here, where several hundred local and state officials and industry representatives gathered for a once-a-year confab on the industry.

Last year's "Rockin' the Bakken" bumper sticker and T-shirts seem a little too excited now, with top oil players describing their drilling plans for 2009 as reduced from last year or under constant review as the price of oil continues its downward slide.

There was plenty of reason for optimism in the room, especially with the announcement that the state's daily oil production has now officially tipped 200,000 barrels a day, possibly making it fourth of oil producing states, ahead of Louisiana and one step above the fifth place it reached just a month ago.

Tom Rolfstad, economic development director for Williston and organizer of the summit, said the anticipated slower pace works fine for his region, which can work on oil field and other industry worker and housing shortages at a more reasoned pace.

Wayne Biberdorf, manager of North Dakota projects for Hess Corp., said his company plans to scale back next year to six rigs from the eight going this year.

He said he still expects a long-range increase in demand for crude oil and that the Bakken continues to fit the company's plans because it has a low political risk, fair taxes and long-lived resources.

"Our investment in North Dakota is continuing," Biberdorf said.

Marathon Oil Co.'s spokesman Andrew Franklin said his company has seven rigs drilling in the Bakken and plans to stay active in the formation over the long haul.

However, he said the company's plans to maintain the current seven rigs for 2009 are under review.

"We don't know for sure yet," Franklin said.

Rick Ross, spokesman for Whiting Petroleum, a big player in Mountrail County, said the company will make an announcement in January on whether it plans to continue its present rate of development next year.

Whiting is producing about 17,000 barrels a day from its North Dakota wells, including natural gas and is building a plant to feed off its gas gathering system.

Ross said his company likes operating in North Dakota. "It's a good place to operate, and there's a good workforce of reliable, dependable workers," he said.

None of the companies, when pressed by the audience, would discuss the floor price of oil that would cause their company to suspend Bakken development.

Bob Harms, a representative for the Northern Alliance of Independent Producers, said the average break even price in the Bakken is around $55 a barrel, though the number drops to about half in "sweet spots," like in Mountrail County.

Franklin said his company looks at each oil well as its own little business.

"It has to make a return," he said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.)

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