October 2016

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 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 output1,044,000barrels a day7.4% above the month before · 10.4% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,010plus 115 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded52oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed3087 spacing and 8 pooling actions

Crude price$44.37a barrel, first purchase$39.78 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas14.2%

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

Drilling

52 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2016 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 27, Dunn 11, Divide 4, Williams 4, Mountrail 3.

Hearings and orders

30 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2016 are in the project's order index, with 87 spacing and 8 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (8), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (3), XTO Energy Inc. (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

143 operators filed rows in the October 2016 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,461), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,424), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,381), XTO Energy Inc (870), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (702).

The operator of record changed on 3 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 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.