October 2021

North Dakota's oil month in October 2021, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in October 2021. 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 output1,111,258barrels a day0.2% below the month before · 9.8% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil16,667plus 81 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded64oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed1243 spacing and 4 pooling actions

Crude price$75.77a barrel, first purchase$35.02 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas5.8%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks October 2021.

Drilling

64 oil and gas wells have a spud date in October 2021 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 24, Mountrail 15, Williams 14, McKenzie 11.

Hearings and orders

12 Industrial Commission orders signed in October 2021 are in the project's order index, with 43 spacing and 4 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (2), Continental Resources, Inc. (1), Enerplus Resources (USA) Corp. (1). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

123 operators filed rows in the October 2021 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,081), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,780), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,779), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,091), XTO Energy Inc (1,041).

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 October 2021, 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.