September 2004

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in September 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 output87,000barrels a day0.9% above the month before · 7.8% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,366plus 21 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,353 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded12oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$43.90a barrel, first purchase$27.45 a year earlier

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

Drilling

12 oil and gas wells have a spud date in September 2004 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Bowman 4, Bottineau 3, Divide 2, McKenzie 2, Golden Valley 1.

Operators

148 operators filed rows in the September 2004 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (240), Eagle Operating, Inc. (161), Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. (154), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (135), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (126).

The operator of record changed on 5 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 September 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.