October 2008

North Dakota's oil month in October 2008, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 2008. 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 output202,742barrels a day7.5% above the month before · 58.0% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil4,167plus 145 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,633 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded62oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed56227 spacing and 18 pooling actions

Crude price$67.36a barrel, first purchase$76.49 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks October 2008.

Drilling

62 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2008 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Mountrail 22, Dunn 12, McKenzie 10, Bottineau 4, Divide 4.

Hearings and orders

56 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2008 are in the project's order index, with 227 spacing and 18 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (13), Fidelity Expl. & Prod. Co. (8), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (5). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

152 operators filed rows in the October 2008 report. Most wells reported: St Mary Land & Exploration Company (222), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (181), Encore Operating, L.P. (159), Hess Corporation (153), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (142).

The operator of record changed on 20 wells since their previous report.

Carlson Oil Inc. to Ward-Williston Company: 11 wells
Chesapeake Operating, Inc. to Continental Resources, Inc.: 9 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 October 2008, 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.