May 2017

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output1,040,484barrels a day1.0% below the month before · 0.6% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,433plus 89 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded94oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed57117 spacing and 29 pooling actions

Crude price$44.07a barrel, first purchase$39.47 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas10.9%

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

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Triangle USA Petroleum Corporation to Nine Point Energy, LLC on 149 wells.

Drilling

94 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2017 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 32, Williams 25, Dunn 21, Mountrail 14, Billings 1.

Hearings and orders

57 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2017 are in the project's order index, with 117 spacing and 29 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (7), Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP, (6), Statoil Oil & Gas LP (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

143 operators filed rows in the May 2017 report. Most wells reported: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,485), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,463), Continental Resources, Inc. (1,434), XTO Energy Inc (913), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (876).

The operator of record changed on 170 wells since their previous report.

Triangle USA Petroleum Corporation to Nine Point Energy, LLC: 149 wells
C12 Energy: North Dakota LLC to Scout Energy Management LLC: 21 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 May 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.