July 2023

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in July 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 output1,186,355barrels a day1.1% above the month before · 10.6% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil17,544plus 136 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded55oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed2471 spacing and 9 pooling actions

Crude price$71.49a barrel, first purchase$98.01 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.3%

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

What stood out

More than 17,500 wells reported oil for the first time.

Drilling

55 oil and gas wells have a spud date in July 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 21, Williams 12, Dunn 11, Mountrail 9, Billings 2.

Hearings and orders

24 Industrial Commission orders signed in July 2023 are in the project's order index, with 71 spacing and 9 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (12), Iron Oil Operating, LLC (2), Lime Rock Resources III-A, L.P. (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

112 operators filed rows in the July 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,413), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,941), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,725), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,541), XTO Energy Inc (1,053).

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 July 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.