May 2022

North Dakota's oil month in May 2022, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 2022. 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 output1,060,968barrels a day16.8% above the month before · 6.1% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil16,425plus 70 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded74oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed617 spacing and 1 pooling actions

Crude price$105.64a barrel, first purchase$60.51 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas5.9%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks May 2022.

What stood out

Oil output rose 17% from the month before.

Drilling

74 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2022 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 19, Williams 18, Dunn 16, Mountrail 16, Burke 3.

Hearings and orders

6 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2022 are in the project's order index, with 17 spacing and 1 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Kraken Operating, LLC (4), Foundation Energy Management, LLC (1), Hunt Oil Company (1). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

117 operators filed rows in the May 2022 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,127), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,883), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,654), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,100), XTO Energy Inc (1,073).

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 May 2022, 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.