October 2017

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 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 output1,184,258barrels a day6.9% above the month before · 13.4% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,736plus 175 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded97oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2071 spacing and 3 pooling actions

Crude price$49.93a barrel, first purchase$44.37 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas15.1%

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

Drilling

97 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2017 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 37, Dunn 21, Williams 21, Mountrail 14, Golden Valley 2.

Hearings and orders

20 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2017 are in the project's order index, with 71 spacing and 3 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (5), Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp. (3), Kraken Oil & Gas, LLC (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

141 operators filed rows in the October 2017 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,514), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,507), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,488), XTO Energy Inc (947), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (923).

The operator of record changed on 72 wells since their previous report.

Fidelity Exploration & Production Company to Scout Energy Management LLC: 61 wells
Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC to Petro Harvester Operating 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 October 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.