October 2015

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 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 output1,165,581barrels a day0.9% above the month before · 0.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,636plus 127 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded118oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed88191 spacing and 66 pooling actions

Crude price$39.78a barrel, first purchase$75.64 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas13.2%

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

What stood out

The flared share of reported gas fell below 15% for the first time since the workbooks began in May 2015.

Drilling

118 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2015 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 37, Mountrail 25, Dunn 23, Williams 23, Divide 7.

Hearings and orders

88 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2015 are in the project's order index, with 191 spacing and 66 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (14), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (10), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (9). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

151 operators filed rows in the October 2015 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,572), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,432), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,375), XTO Energy Inc (793), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (719).

The operator of record changed on 2 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 October 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.