November 2018

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in November 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 output1,378,867barrels a day1.1% below the month before · 15.2% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,704plus 213 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded115oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed30170 spacing and 20 pooling actions

Crude price$51.24a barrel, first purchase$55.50 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas19.8%

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

Drilling

115 oil and gas wells have a spud date in November 2018 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 41, McKenzie 31, Dunn 25, Mountrail 15, Burke 3.

Hearings and orders

30 Industrial Commission orders signed in November 2018 are in the project's order index, with 170 spacing and 20 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (14), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (3), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

136 operators filed rows in the November 2018 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,699), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,573), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,529), XTO Energy Inc (973), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (965).

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

Williston Exploration, LLC to Medora Minerals, LLC: 19 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 November 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.