November 2019

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in November 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 output1,519,033barrels a daylevel with the month before · 10.2% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil15,484plus 185 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded108oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2233 spacing and 8 pooling actions

Crude price$51.31a barrel, first purchase$51.24 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas17.0%

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

What stood out

With hindsight: the highest month of North Dakota oil output on record, through August 2026.

Drilling

108 oil and gas wells have a spud date in November 2019 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 35, Dunn 30, McKenzie 28, Mountrail 15.

Hearings and orders

22 Industrial Commission orders signed in November 2019 are in the project's order index, with 33 spacing and 8 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (4), XTO Holdings, LLC (4), WPX Energy Williston, LLC (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

133 operators filed rows in the November 2019 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,834), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,707), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,652), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,039), XTO Energy Inc (1,038).

The operator of record changed on 5 wells since their previous report. No single change covered five or more 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 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.