January 2015

North Dakota's oil month in January 2015, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2015. 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 output1,183,419barrels a day2.9% below the month before · 27.0% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,116plus 204 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld; includes 1,769 counted inside unit totals

Wells spudded180oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed91339 spacing and 27 pooling actions

Crude price$37.52a barrel, first purchase$82.70 a year earlier

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2015.

Drilling

180 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2015 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 71, Dunn 35, Williams 33, Mountrail 25, Divide 6.

Hearings and orders

91 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2015 are in the project's order index, with 339 spacing and 27 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: XTO Energy Inc. (10), Continental Resources, Inc. (8), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (8). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

198 operators filed rows in the January 2015 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,359), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,154), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,025), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (678), XTO Energy Inc (662).

The operator of record changed on 49 wells since their previous report.

Liberty Resources Management Company, LLC to Emerald Oil, Inc: 22 wells
Silver Thread Oil & Gas, Inc. to Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC: 9 wells
Abraxas Petroleum Corp. to Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC: 5 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 2015, 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.