December 2015

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in December 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 output1,145,000barrels a day2.5% below the month before · 6.1% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,665plus 94 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded89oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed55277 spacing and 13 pooling actions

Crude price$30.67a barrel, first purchase$50.51 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas14.3%

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

Drilling

89 oil and gas wells have a spud date in December 2015 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 48, Dunn 19, Williams 12, Divide 4, Mountrail 3.

Hearings and orders

55 Industrial Commission orders signed in December 2015 are in the project's order index, with 277 spacing and 13 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Statoil Oil & Gas LP (10), Continental Resources, Inc. (8), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (7). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

145 operators filed rows in the December 2015 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,512), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,431), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,382), XTO Energy Inc (814), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (730).

The operator of record changed on 183 wells since their previous report.

Fidelity Exploration & Production Company to Kaiser-Francis Oil Company: 99 wells
Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation to White Rock Oil & Gas, LLC: 58 wells
Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation to Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation: 25 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 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.