April 2019

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in April 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 output1,392,533barrels a day0.1% below the month before · 13.5% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil15,030plus 131 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded101oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed43188 spacing and 23 pooling actions

Crude price$61.16a barrel, first purchase$62.48 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas19.0%

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

What stood out

More than 15,000 wells reported oil for the first time.

Drilling

101 oil and gas wells have a spud date in April 2019 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 28, Williams 28, Mountrail 24, Dunn 19, Divide 2.

Hearings and orders

43 Industrial Commission orders signed in April 2019 are in the project's order index, with 188 spacing and 23 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (10), WPX Energy Williston, LLC (8), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (5). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

137 operators filed rows in the April 2019 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,771), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,608), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,568), XTO Energy Inc (1,010), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (990).

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 April 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.