December 2011

North Dakota's oil month in December 2011, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 2011. 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 output533,323barrels a day4.9% above the month before · 55.6% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil6,336plus 279 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,658 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded136oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed234347 spacing and 183 pooling actions

Crude price$89.92a barrel, first purchase$79.77 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks December 2011.

Drilling

136 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2011 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 40, Dunn 27, McKenzie 26, Mountrail 11, Burke 8.

Hearings and orders

234 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2011 are in the project's order index, with 347 spacing and 183 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Brigham Oil & Gas, L.P. (36), Hess Corp. (26), Continental Resources, Inc. (25). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

155 operators filed rows in the December 2011 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (432), Continental Resources, Inc. (416), Hess Corporation (415), EOG Resources, Inc. (376), Marathon Oil Company (237).

The operator of record changed on 2 wells since their previous report. No single change covered five or more 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 2011, 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.