November 2016

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in November 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 output1,034,667barrels a day0.9% below the month before · 11.9% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,051plus 124 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded70oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed5767 spacing and 48 pooling actions

Crude price$39.67a barrel, first purchase$36.98 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas10.5%

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

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Denbury Onshore, LLC to Scout Energy Management LLC on 172 wells.
The operator of record changed from Samson Resources Company to Resource Energy Can-Am LLC on 123 wells.

Drilling

70 oil and gas wells have a spud date in November 2016 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 39, Dunn 9, Mountrail 8, Williams 6, Divide 4.

Hearings and orders

57 Industrial Commission orders signed in November 2016 are in the project's order index, with 67 spacing and 48 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Statoil Oil & Gas LP (39), Statoil Oil and Gas LP (5), XTO Energy Inc. (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

142 operators filed rows in the November 2016 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,470), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,428), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,385), XTO Energy Inc (874), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (707).

The operator of record changed on 306 wells since their previous report.

Denbury Onshore, LLC to Scout Energy Management LLC: 172 wells
Samson Resources Company to Resource Energy Can-Am LLC: 123 wells
Earthstone Energy, Inc. to Earthstone Operating, LLC: 6 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 November 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.