March 2016

North Dakota's oil month in March 2016, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in March 2016. 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 output1,111,774barrels a day0.7% below the month before · 6.0% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,621plus 76 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded32oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed4362 spacing and 19 pooling actions

Crude price$30.35a barrel, first purchase$38.77 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas10.1%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks March 2016.

Drilling

32 oil and gas wells have a spud date in March 2016 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 17, Dunn 9, Divide 3, Williams 2, Mountrail 1.

Hearings and orders

43 Industrial Commission orders signed in March 2016 are in the project's order index, with 62 spacing and 19 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (12), Newfield Production Co. (4), QEP Energy Co. (4). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

148 operators filed rows in the March 2016 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,466), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,433), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,413), XTO Energy Inc (860), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (744).

The operator of record changed on 135 wells since their previous report.

Corinthian Exploration (USA) Corp to Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp.: 76 wells
Legacy Oil & Gas ND, Inc. to Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp.: 58 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 March 2016, 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.