May 2018

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output1,247,710barrels a day1.7% above the month before · 19.9% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,285plus 152 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded101oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2743 spacing and 16 pooling actions

Crude price$65.72a barrel, first purchase$44.07 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas17.1%

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

Drilling

101 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 45, Dunn 24, Williams 17, Mountrail 12, Billings 1.

Hearings and orders

27 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2018 are in the project's order index, with 43 spacing and 16 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (14), Lime Rock Resources III-A, LP (3), Bruin E&P Operating, LLC (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

142 operators filed rows in the May 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,593), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,536), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,455), XTO Energy Inc (966), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (954).

The operator of record changed on 4 wells since their previous report. No single change covered five or more 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 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.