August 2023

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in August 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 output1,220,129barrels a day2.8% above the month before · 13.6% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil17,744plus 161 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded78oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed3517 spacing and 28 pooling actions

Crude price$76.87a barrel, first purchase$90.86 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.5%

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

Drilling

78 oil and gas wells have a spud date in August 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: McKenzie 30, Williams 21, Dunn 18, Mountrail 7, Divide 2.

Hearings and orders

35 Industrial Commission orders signed in August 2023 are in the project's order index, with 17 spacing and 28 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (11), Continental Resources, Inc. (8), Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (4). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

113 operators filed rows in the August 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,438), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,945), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,737), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,548), XTO Energy Inc (1,062).

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 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.