April 2017

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in April 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 output1,050,900barrels a day2.4% above the month before · 0.9% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,315plus 79 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded56oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2179 spacing and 8 pooling actions

Crude price$45.62a barrel, first purchase$34.54 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas9.7%

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

Drilling

56 oil and gas wells have a spud date in April 2017 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 28, Williams 14, Dunn 10, Stark 3, Burke 1.

Hearings and orders

21 Industrial Commission orders signed in April 2017 are in the project's order index, with 79 spacing and 8 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (6), WPX Energy Williston, LLC (3), 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 April 2017 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,479), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,453), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,414), XTO Energy Inc (901), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (874).

The operator of record changed on 13 wells since their previous report.

Mountain Divide, LLC to Future Acquisition Company, LLC: 9 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 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.