May 2006

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output108,645barrels a day6.0% above the month before · 16.6% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil3,597plus 35 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,490 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded22oil and gas wells, by spud date

Crude price$61.52a barrel, first purchase$47.45 a year earlier

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

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. to Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP on 147 wells.

Drilling

22 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2006 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Bowman 6, Billings 4, McKenzie 3, Williams 3, Burke 2.

Operators

151 operators filed rows in the May 2006 report. Most wells reported: Nance Petroleum Corporation (263), Eagle Operating, Inc. (154), Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP (147), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (145), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (127).

The operator of record changed on 217 wells since their previous report.

Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. to Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Onshore LP: 147 wells
Amerada Hess Corporation to Hess Corporation: 67 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 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.