November 2017

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in November 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 output1,197,333barrels a day1.1% above the month before · 15.7% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,782plus 192 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded92oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed56112 spacing and 24 pooling actions

Crude price$55.50a barrel, first purchase$39.67 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas12.7%

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

Drilling

92 oil and gas wells have a spud date in November 2017 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 37, Dunn 23, Williams 22, Mountrail 9, Burke 1.

Hearings and orders

56 Industrial Commission orders signed in November 2017 are in the project's order index, with 112 spacing and 24 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp. (7), XTO Energy Inc. (7), Liberty Resources Management Co., LLC (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

142 operators filed rows in the November 2017 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,517), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,512), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,497), XTO Energy Inc (955), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (938).

The operator of record changed on 46 wells since their previous report.

Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC to 31 Operating, LLC: 41 wells
Conocophillips Company to Scout Energy Management LLC: 5 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 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.