July 2018

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in July 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 output1,273,097barrels a day3.4% above the month before · 21.4% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,393plus 188 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded114oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed48186 spacing and 2 pooling actions

Crude price$67.85a barrel, first purchase$42.09 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas17.7%

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

What stood out

Oil output passed 1,250,000 barrels a day for the first time in the EIA monthly record, which begins in 1981.

Drilling

114 oil and gas wells have a spud date in July 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 45, Dunn 29, Williams 22, Mountrail 15, Billings 2.

Hearings and orders

48 Industrial Commission orders signed in July 2018 are in the project's order index, with 186 spacing and 2 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Crescent Point Energy US Corp. (9), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (7), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (5). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

139 operators filed rows in the July 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,633), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,543), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,479), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (978), XTO Energy Inc (971).

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 July 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.