March 2023

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in March 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 output1,124,903barrels a day2.9% below the month before · 0.4% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil17,089plus 74 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded89oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2223 spacing and 16 pooling actions

Crude price$70.01a barrel, first purchase$105.14 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.9%

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

Drilling

89 oil and gas wells have a spud date in March 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 30, Mountrail 24, McKenzie 19, Williams 15, Bottineau 1.

Hearings and orders

22 Industrial Commission orders signed in March 2023 are in the project's order index, with 23 spacing and 16 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Slawson Exploration Co., Inc. (11), Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp. (3), Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (3). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

114 operators filed rows in the March 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,301), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,932), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,695), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,526), XTO Energy Inc (1,030).

The operator of record changed on 59 wells since their previous report.

EOG Resources, Inc. to Grayson Mill Operating, LLC: 37 wells
White Rock Oil & Gas, LLC to Continental Resources, Inc.: 12 wells
D90 Energy, LLC to Cobra Oil & Gas Corporation: 7 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 March 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.