January 2012

North Dakota's oil month in January 2012, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2012. 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 output545,871barrels a day2.4% above the month before · 59.8% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil6,467plus 279 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,658 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded154oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed44195 spacing and 2 pooling actions

Crude price$90.18a barrel, first purchase$79.94 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2012.

Drilling

154 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2012 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 36, Dunn 31, Williams 29, Mountrail 28, Divide 9.

Hearings and orders

44 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2012 are in the project's order index, with 195 spacing and 2 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Kodiak Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. (6), Brigham Oil & Gas, L.P. (4), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (4). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

156 operators filed rows in the January 2012 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (438), Continental Resources, Inc. (433), Hess Corporation (433), EOG Resources, Inc. (384), Marathon Oil Company (245).

The operator of record changed on 70 wells since their previous report.

Dakota-3 E&P Company, LLC to WPX Energy Williston, LLC: 43 wells
North Plains Energy, LLC to Kodiak Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.: 18 wells
Chaparral Energy, L.L.C. to Charger Resources, LLC: 8 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 January 2012, 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.