November 2003

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in November 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 output79,967barrels a day0.9% above the month before · 5.4% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,335plus 14 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,360 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded8oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$28.20a barrel, first purchase$25.95 a year earlier

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

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Whiting Petroleum Corporation to Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation on 128 wells.

Drilling

8 oil and gas wells have a spud date in November 2003 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Billings 2, Bowman 2, McKenzie 2, Burke 1, Williams 1.

Operators

151 operators filed rows in the November 2003 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (244), Eagle Operating, Inc. (160), Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. (159), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (128), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (128).

The operator of record changed on 132 wells since their previous report.

Whiting Petroleum Corporation to Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation: 128 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 November 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.