August 2004

North Dakota's oil month in August 2004, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in August 2004. 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 output86,226barrels a day3.1% above the month before · 7.7% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,359plus 24 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,348 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded13oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$42.48a barrel, first purchase$29.83 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks August 2004.

Drilling

13 oil and gas wells have a spud date in August 2004 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 5, Bowman 4, Billings 1, Divide 1, Mountrail 1.

Operators

147 operators filed rows in the August 2004 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (243), Eagle Operating, Inc. (160), Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. (152), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (132), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (127).

The operator of record changed on 50 wells since their previous report.

Nexen Oil and Gas U.S.A. Inc. to Arsenal Energy USA Inc.: 46 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 August 2004, 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.