April 2016

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in April 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 output1,042,033barrels a day6.3% below the month before · 10.6% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,641plus 61 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded59oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed64180 spacing and 32 pooling actions

Crude price$34.54a barrel, first purchase$46.08 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas9.1%

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

What stood out

The flared share of reported gas fell below 10% for the first time since the workbooks began in May 2015.

Drilling

59 oil and gas wells have a spud date in April 2016 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 37, Mountrail 10, Dunn 6, Divide 3, Williams 3.

Hearings and orders

64 Industrial Commission orders signed in April 2016 are in the project's order index, with 180 spacing and 32 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: XTO Energy Inc. (12), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (11), Continental Resources, Inc. (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

146 operators filed rows in the April 2016 report. Most wells reported: Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,466), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,435), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,421), XTO Energy Inc (863), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (677).

The operator of record changed on 73 wells since their previous report.

Oasis Petroleum North America LLC to Samson Oil and Gas USA, Inc: 73 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 April 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.