March 2020

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in March 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 output1,435,323barrels a day1.4% below the month before · 3.0% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil15,671plus 152 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded74oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed55164 spacing and 29 pooling actions

Crude price$28.64a barrel, first purchase$54.84 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas13.1%

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

Drilling

74 oil and gas wells have a spud date in March 2020 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 25, Dunn 19, Mountrail 17, McKenzie 13.

Hearings and orders

55 Industrial Commission orders signed in March 2020 are in the project's order index, with 164 spacing and 29 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Continental Resources, Inc. (13), Marathon Oil Co. (8), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (5). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

132 operators filed rows in the March 2020 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,923), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,742), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,694), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,052), XTO Energy Inc (1,043).

The operator of record changed on 2 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 March 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.