October 2018

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 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 output1,393,935barrels a day2.4% above the month before · 17.7% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,772plus 198 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded132oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed51360 spacing and 25 pooling actions

Crude price$67.14a barrel, first purchase$49.93 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas20.0%

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

Drilling

132 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 54, McKenzie 29, Dunn 25, Mountrail 17, Burke 3.

Hearings and orders

51 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2018 are in the project's order index, with 360 spacing and 25 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (10), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (6), Liberty Resources Management Co. LLC (5). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

137 operators filed rows in the October 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,697), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,571), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,522), XTO Energy Inc (972), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (953).

The operator of record changed on 111 wells since their previous report.

Kaiser-Francis Oil Company to Kraken Development III, LLC: 58 wells
Oasis Petroleum North America LLC to Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation: 38 wells
Oasis Petroleum North America LLC to Petroshale (US) Inc.: 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 October 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.