January 2018

North Dakota's oil month in January 2018, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2018. 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 output1,177,581barrels a day0.4% below the month before · 19.7% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil13,810plus 161 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded90oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed5381 spacing and 26 pooling actions

Crude price$61.75a barrel, first purchase$45.87 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas14.1%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2018.

Drilling

90 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 26, Dunn 23, Williams 21, Mountrail 20.

Hearings and orders

53 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2018 are in the project's order index, with 81 spacing and 26 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (12), Continental Resources, Inc. (9), XTO Energy Inc. (9). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

144 operators filed rows in the January 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,533), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,505), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,423), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (951), XTO Energy Inc (951).

The operator of record changed on 62 wells since their previous report.

Petro Harvester Operating Company, LLC to 31 Operating, LLC: 49 wells
Cornerstone Natural Resources LLC to Challenger Point Energy, 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 January 2018, 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.