May 2020

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output862,355barrels a day29.6% below the month before · 38.2% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil12,063plus 123 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded19oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed68 spacing and 0 pooling actions

Crude price$18.03a barrel, first purchase$57.34 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas11.3%

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

What stood out

Oil output fell 30% from the month before.

Drilling

19 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2020 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 9, Williams 5, Mountrail 3, Billings 2.

Hearings and orders

6 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2020 are in the project's order index, with 8 spacing and 0 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

131 operators filed rows in the May 2020 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,926), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,745), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,715), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,051), XTO Energy Inc (1,044).

The operator of record changed on 13 wells since their previous report.

Texakota, Inc. to Murex Petroleum Corporation: 12 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 May 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.