January 2006

North Dakota's oil month in January 2006, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2006. 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 output97,548barrels a day6.4% below the month before · 8.1% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,438plus 24 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,413 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded27oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$56.41a barrel, first purchase$42.34 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2006.

Drilling

27 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2006 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Divide 5, McKenzie 5, Bowman 4, Billings 2, Bottineau 2.

Operators

150 operators filed rows in the January 2006 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (264), Eagle Operating, Inc. (155), Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. (147), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (141), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (123).

The operator of record changed on 3 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 January 2006, 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.