September 2016

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in September 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 output971,733barrels a day1.1% below the month before · 15.9% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,936plus 90 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded69oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2832 spacing and 19 pooling actions

Crude price$38.70a barrel, first purchase$37.78 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas10.8%

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

Drilling

69 oil and gas wells have a spud date in September 2016 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 26, McKenzie 19, Williams 16, Divide 4, Mountrail 3.

Hearings and orders

28 Industrial Commission orders signed in September 2016 are in the project's order index, with 32 spacing and 19 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (9), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP, (5), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (4). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

147 operators filed rows in the September 2016 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,456), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,416), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,378), XTO Energy Inc (869), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (700).

The operator of record changed on 120 wells since their previous report.

Continental Resources, Inc. to Kraken Operating, LLC: 67 wells
Arsenal Energy USA Inc. to Rampart Energy Company: 48 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 September 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.