December 2010

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 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 output342,677barrels a day3.6% below the month before · 41.5% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil5,322plus 137 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,675 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded95oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed129411 spacing and 61 pooling actions

Crude price$79.77a barrel, first purchase$65.64 a year earlier

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

Drilling

95 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2010 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Mountrail 27, McKenzie 20, Williams 16, Dunn 12, Stark 6.

Hearings and orders

129 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2010 are in the project's order index, with 411 spacing and 61 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Anschutz Exploration Corp. (32), Continental Resources, Inc. (18), EOG Resources, Inc. (12). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

150 operators filed rows in the December 2010 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (298), EOG Resources, Inc. (287), Continental Resources, Inc. (252), Hess Corporation (239), Marathon Oil Company (178).

The operator of record changed on 16 wells since their previous report.

J.P. Oil Company, Inc. to Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation: 8 wells
Black Hawk Resources, LLC to Alturas Energy, LLC: 7 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 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.