January 2019

North Dakota's oil month in January 2019, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2019. 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 output1,403,903barrels a day0.1% above the month before · 19.2% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,845plus 170 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded92oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed51369 spacing and 18 pooling actions

Crude price$44.49a barrel, first purchase$61.75 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas18.6%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2019.

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Enduro Operating, LLC to Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation on 159 wells.

Drilling

92 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2019 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 37, Mountrail 21, Dunn 18, Williams 14, Burke 2.

Hearings and orders

51 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2019 are in the project's order index, with 369 spacing and 18 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (7), Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp. (6), NP Resources, LLC (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

135 operators filed rows in the January 2019 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,735), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,584), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,547), XTO Energy Inc (984), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (980).

The operator of record changed on 168 wells since their previous report.

Enduro Operating, LLC to Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation: 159 wells
North Plains Energy II, LLC to Prima Exploration, Inc.: 9 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 January 2019, 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.