December 2008

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 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 output201,387barrels a day6.1% below the month before · 49.1% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil4,228plus 131 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,640 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded39oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed5272 spacing and 30 pooling actions

Crude price$27.86a barrel, first purchase$80.69 a year earlier

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

Drilling

39 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2008 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 13, Mountrail 12, McKenzie 6, Billings 2, Burke 2.

Hearings and orders

52 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2008 are in the project's order index, with 72 spacing and 30 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (9), EOG Resources, Inc. (7), Hess Corp. (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

151 operators filed rows in the December 2008 report. Most wells reported: St Mary Land & Exploration Company (222), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (184), Encore Operating, L.P. (162), Hess Corporation (158), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (144).

The operator of record changed on 41 wells since their previous report.

Hunt Petroleum (aec), Inc. to XTO Energy Inc: 36 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 December 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.