January 2023

North Dakota's oil month in January 2023, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2023. 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 output1,062,903barrels a day10.8% above the month before · 2.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil16,772plus 91 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded91oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed27115 spacing and 1 pooling actions

Crude price$73.71a barrel, first purchase$78.16 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas5.4%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks January 2023.

What stood out

Oil output rose 11% from the month before.
The operator of record changed from Bowline Energy LLC to Neptune Operating LLC on 209 wells.

Drilling

91 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 42, McKenzie 21, Dunn 14, Mountrail 14.

Hearings and orders

27 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2023 are in the project's order index, with 115 spacing and 1 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (5), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC, (3), Continental Resources, Inc. (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

113 operators filed rows in the January 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,267), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,927), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,684), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,522), XTO Energy Inc (1,023).

The operator of record changed on 225 wells since their previous report.

Bowline Energy LLC to Neptune Operating LLC: 209 wells
Lime Rock Resources III-A, L.P. to Petro-Hunt, L.L.C.: 13 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 January 2023, 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.