May 2003

North Dakota's oil month in May 2003, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 2003. It is assembled now from today's public records, with what was known later, so that every month since January 2003 has an issue.

The month in numbers

Oil output79,419barrels a day0.9% below the month before · 5.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,389plus 9 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,385 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded5oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$26.88a barrel, first purchase$24.63 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks May 2003.

Drilling

5 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2003 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 2, Bottineau 1, Dunn 1, Williams 1.

Operators

154 operators filed rows in the May 2003 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (240), Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. (178), Eagle Operating, Inc. (160), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (129), Whiting Petroleum Corporation (128).

The operator of record changed on 9 wells since their previous report. No single change covered five or more wells.

A change of operator of record is what the reports show; it does not say why. Sales, mergers, renamed legal entities and new contract operators all look the same. Names are as the reports spell them.

Sources

Oil output and price: U.S. Energy Information Administration, monthly state series (public domain), as published today.
Wells reporting, withheld wells, operators and flared gas: the free NDIC Monthly Production Reports for May 2003, as first reported (PDF print).
Spud dates: the DMR GIS wells layer of November 6, 2026.
Orders: the project's index of signed NDIC orders (facts only; see the well index).

Not an official record of the State of North Dakota. Not engineering, investment or legal advice. Every figure is in the archive data file.