December 2009

North Dakota's oil month in December 2009, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 2009. 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 output242,226barrels a day1.8% below the month before · 20.3% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil4,612plus 107 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,617 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded55oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed57367 spacing and 14 pooling actions

Crude price$65.64a barrel, first purchase$27.86 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks December 2009.

Drilling

55 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2009 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Mountrail 21, Dunn 11, McKenzie 11, Williams 5, Burke 3.

Hearings and orders

57 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2009 are in the project's order index, with 367 spacing and 14 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Hess Corp. (11), Continental Resources, Inc. (9), XTO Energy Inc. (7). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

152 operators filed rows in the December 2009 report. Most wells reported: St Mary Land & Exploration Company (225), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (218), Hess Corporation (197), EOG Resources, Inc. (174), Petro-Hunt, L.L.C. (152).

The operator of record changed on 9 wells since their previous report.

Williston Industrial Supply Corporation to Condor Petroleum, Inc.: 6 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 2009, 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.