March 2012

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in March 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 output579,290barrels a day4.1% above the month before · 61.4% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil6,797plus 255 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,673 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded175oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed220496 spacing and 166 pooling actions

Crude price$85.57a barrel, first purchase$93.28 a year earlier

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

Drilling

175 oil and gas wells have a spud date in March 2012 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 39, Williams 39, Mountrail 32, Dunn 26, Burke 15.

Hearings and orders

220 Industrial Commission orders signed in March 2012 are in the project's order index, with 496 spacing and 166 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Hess Corp. (24), Hunt Oil Co. (22), EOG Resources, Inc. (18). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

163 operators filed rows in the March 2012 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (470), Hess Corporation (463), Continental Resources, Inc. (461), EOG Resources, Inc. (401), Marathon Oil Company (260).

The operator of record changed on 11 wells since their previous report.

Williston Industrial Supply Corporation to Encore Energy Partners Operating 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 March 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.