March 2017

North Dakota's oil month in March 2017, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in March 2017. 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 output1,025,839barrels a day0.8% below the month before · 7.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,180plus 94 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded84oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2645 spacing and 12 pooling actions

Crude price$44.40a barrel, first purchase$30.35 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas10.5%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks March 2017.

Drilling

84 oil and gas wells have a spud date in March 2017 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 52, Williams 14, Dunn 12, Mountrail 3, Stark 2.

Hearings and orders

26 Industrial Commission orders signed in March 2017 are in the project's order index, with 45 spacing and 12 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Cornerstone Natural Resources LLC, (8), NP Resources, LLC (4), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP, (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

144 operators filed rows in the March 2017 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,472), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,445), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,399), XTO Energy Inc (891), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (872).

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 March 2017, 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.