September 2020

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in September 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 output1,225,133barrels a day5.0% above the month before · 15.2% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil14,852plus 66 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded24oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed820 spacing and 3 pooling actions

Crude price$35.36a barrel, first purchase$51.85 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas7.0%

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

What stood out

The flared share of reported gas fell below 7.5% for the first time since the workbooks began in May 2015.

Drilling

24 oil and gas wells have a spud date in September 2020 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 15, Dunn 5, Mountrail 4.

Hearings and orders

8 Industrial Commission orders signed in September 2020 are in the project's order index, with 20 spacing and 3 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co. LP (2), Continental Resources, Inc. (2), Bruin E&P Operating, LLC (1). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

126 operators filed rows in the September 2020 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (1,934), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,756), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,746), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,062), XTO Energy Inc (1,053).

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 September 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.