May 2012

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output641,484barrels a day5.2% above the month before · 77.0% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil7,045plus 311 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,673 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded189oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed225489 spacing and 152 pooling actions

Crude price$83.94a barrel, first purchase$98.49 a year earlier

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

Drilling

189 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2012 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 51, Mountrail 43, Williams 40, Dunn 24, Divide 13.

Hearings and orders

225 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2012 are in the project's order index, with 489 spacing and 152 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (49), EOG Resources, Inc. (27), Slawson Exploration Co., Inc. (20). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

166 operators filed rows in the May 2012 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (513), Hess Corporation (496), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (496), EOG Resources, Inc. (409), Marathon Oil Company (270).

The operator of record changed on 113 wells since their previous report.

Ward-Williston Company to Enduro Operating, LLC: 67 wells
Eagle Operating, Inc. to Williston Hunter ND, LLC: 40 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 May 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.