August 2010

North Dakota's oil month in August 2010, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in August 2010. 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 output328,484barrels a day2.5% above the month before · 41.4% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil5,029plus 187 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,640 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded115oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed125451 spacing and 83 pooling actions

Crude price$68.32a barrel, first purchase$61.97 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks August 2010.

What stood out

More than 5,000 wells reported oil for the first time.

Drilling

115 oil and gas wells have a spud date in August 2010 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Mountrail 33, Williams 26, McKenzie 21, Dunn 16, Divide 6.

Hearings and orders

125 Industrial Commission orders signed in August 2010 are in the project's order index, with 451 spacing and 83 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Slawson Exploration Co., Inc. (26), Anschutz Exploration Corp. (12), Continental Resources, Inc. (12). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

148 operators filed rows in the August 2010 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (261), EOG Resources, Inc. (250), Hess Corporation (221), Continental Resources, Inc. (207), Marathon Oil Company (166).

The operator of record changed on 40 wells since their previous report.

Zenergy, Inc to Zavanna, LLC: 29 wells
Cirque Resources, LP to Oxy USA 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 August 2010, 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.