December 2012

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 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 output765,581barrels a day4.4% above the month before · 43.5% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil8,136plus 277 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,669 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded184oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed100154 spacing and 74 pooling actions

Crude price$82.62a barrel, first purchase$89.92 a year earlier

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

What stood out

Oil output passed 750,000 barrels a day for the first time in the EIA monthly record, which begins in 1981.
The operator of record changed from Denbury Onshore, LLC to XTO Energy Inc on 153 wells.

Drilling

184 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2012 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 61, Williams 34, Mountrail 31, Dunn 22, Divide 13.

Hearings and orders

100 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2012 are in the project's order index, with 154 spacing and 74 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp. (19), Liberty Resources LLC (16), G3 Operating, LLC (13). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

175 operators filed rows in the December 2012 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (632), Hess Corporation (607), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (604), EOG Resources, Inc. (445), XTO Energy Inc (406).

The operator of record changed on 160 wells since their previous report.

Denbury Onshore, LLC to XTO Energy Inc: 153 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 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.