February 2023

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in February 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 output1,159,000barrels a day9.0% above the month before · 5.8% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil16,893plus 59 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded69oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed1048 spacing and 4 pooling actions

Crude price$72.68a barrel, first purchase$87.60 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas5.3%

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

What stood out

Oil output rose 9% from the month before.
The operator of record changed from Ballantyne Oil, LLC to Fulcrum Energy Operating, LLC on 106 wells.

Drilling

69 oil and gas wells have a spud date in February 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 23, McKenzie 15, Mountrail 14, Williams 12, Burke 2.

Hearings and orders

10 Industrial Commission orders signed in February 2023 are in the project's order index, with 48 spacing and 4 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: WPX Energy Williston, LLC (5), Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (2), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

116 operators filed rows in the February 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,269), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,927), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,690), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,521), XTO Energy Inc (1,027).

The operator of record changed on 106 wells since their previous report.

Ballantyne Oil, LLC to Fulcrum Energy Operating, LLC: 106 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 February 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.