May 2015

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output1,196,323barrels a day2.7% above the month before · 16.2% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,039plus 180 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded102oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed52187 spacing and 21 pooling actions

Crude price$51.08a barrel, first purchase$92.94 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas17.3%

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

Drilling

102 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2015 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 48, Williams 31, Mountrail 11, Dunn 9, Divide 3.

Hearings and orders

52 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2015 are in the project's order index, with 187 spacing and 21 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Statoil Oil & Gas LP (12), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (7), Marathon Oil Co. (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

153 operators filed rows in the May 2015 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,561), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,386), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,295), XTO Energy Inc (723), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (688).

The operator of record changed on 233 wells since their previous report.

BTA Oil Producers, LLC to Remuda Energy Development LLC: 46 wells
Ward-Williston Company to Enduro Operating, LLC: 33 wells
Sagebrush Resources, LLC to Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC: 29 wells
Georesources, Inc. to Energyquest II, LLC: 21 wells
Westport Oil & Gas Company, L.P. to Denbury Onshore, LLC: 18 wells
Hess Corporation to Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC: 12 wells
Eagle Operating, Inc. to Enduro Operating, LLC: 11 wells
Eagle Operating, Inc. to Sedalia Energy, 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 May 2015, as first reported (workbook).
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.