August 2022

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in August 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 output1,074,452barrels a day0.2% above the month before · 3.0% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil17,131plus 102 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded97oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2222 spacing and 13 pooling actions

Crude price$90.86a barrel, first purchase$63.79 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas6.2%

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

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Rimrock Oil & Gas Williston LLC to WPX Energy Williston, LLC on 180 wells.

Drilling

97 oil and gas wells have a spud date in August 2022 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 30, Dunn 26, McKenzie 26, Mountrail 7, Burke 5.

Hearings and orders

22 Industrial Commission orders signed in August 2022 are in the project's order index, with 22 spacing and 13 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (5), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (4), Continental Resources, Inc. (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

117 operators filed rows in the August 2022 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,190), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,898), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,669), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,509), XTO Energy Inc (1,004).

The operator of record changed on 319 wells since their previous report.

Rimrock Oil & Gas Williston LLC to WPX Energy Williston, LLC: 180 wells
NP Resources, LLC to Foundation Energy Management, LLC: 73 wells
XTO Energy Inc to White Rock Oil & Gas, LLC: 47 wells
Ballantyne Oil, LLC to Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation: 16 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 August 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.