April 2018

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in April 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 output1,226,900barrels a day5.6% above the month before · 16.7% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,139plus 129 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded112oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2822 spacing and 17 pooling actions

Crude price$62.48a barrel, first purchase$45.62 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas15.2%

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

What stood out

Oil output set a new record of 1,226,900 barrels a day, the first record since December 2014.

Drilling

112 oil and gas wells have a spud date in April 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 32, Williams 31, Dunn 25, Mountrail 24.

Hearings and orders

28 Industrial Commission orders signed in April 2018 are in the project's order index, with 22 spacing and 17 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: WPX Energy Williston, LLC (5), Kraken Operating, LLC (4), Newfield Production Co. (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

141 operators filed rows in the April 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,577), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,528), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,448), XTO Energy Inc (963), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (938).

The operator of record changed on 19 wells since their previous report.

Sedalia Energy, LLC to Murex Petroleum Corporation: 13 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 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.