January 2020

North Dakota's oil month in January 2020, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2020. 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 output1,431,677barrels a day3.1% below the month before · 2.0% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil15,436plus 134 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded121oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed32133 spacing and 7 pooling actions

Crude price$53.65a barrel, first purchase$44.49 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas14.8%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2020.

Drilling

121 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2020 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 60, Dunn 26, Mountrail 21, Williams 13, Billings 1.

Hearings and orders

32 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2020 are in the project's order index, with 133 spacing and 7 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Petro- Hunt, LLC (8), Newfield Production Co. (6), Equinor Energy LP (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

133 operators filed rows in the January 2020 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,863), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,717), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,668), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,046), XTO Energy Inc (1,044).

The operator of record changed on 21 wells since their previous report.

BTA Oil Producers, LLC to Scout Energy Management LLC: 15 wells
Newfield Production Company to Koda Resources Operating, LLC: 6 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 2020, 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.