August 2012

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in August 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 output701,516barrels a day4.1% above the month before · 57.9% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil7,566plus 300 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,674 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded191oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed112263 spacing and 73 pooling actions

Crude price$83.56a barrel, first purchase$82.11 a year earlier

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

What stood out

More than 7,500 wells reported oil for the first time.

Drilling

191 oil and gas wells have a spud date in August 2012 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 57, Mountrail 34, Dunn 32, Williams 26, Divide 20.

Hearings and orders

112 Industrial Commission orders signed in August 2012 are in the project's order index, with 263 spacing and 73 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (18), Hess Corp. (12), Baytex Energy USA LTD. (10). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

172 operators filed rows in the August 2012 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (558), Hess Corporation (550), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (535), EOG Resources, Inc. (425), Marathon Oil Company (296).

The operator of record changed on 3 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 August 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.