September 2023

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in September 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 output1,290,433barrels a day5.8% above the month before · 14.8% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil17,976plus 148 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded60oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed15157 spacing and 1 pooling actions

Crude price$85.05a barrel, first purchase$81.27 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas5.3%

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

What stood out

Oil output passed 1,250,000 barrels a day for the first time since March 2020.
The operator of record changed from Ovintiv USA Inc. to Grayson Mill Operating, LLC on 379 wells.

Drilling

60 oil and gas wells have a spud date in September 2023 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Dunn 17, Williams 15, McKenzie 14, Mountrail 6, Billings 4.

Hearings and orders

15 Industrial Commission orders signed in September 2023 are in the project's order index, with 157 spacing and 1 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Phoenix Operating LLC (6), Whiting Oil and Gas Corp. (3), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (2). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

110 operators filed rows in the September 2023 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,432), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,955), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,740), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,563), Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (1,211).

The operator of record changed on 383 wells since their previous report.

Ovintiv USA Inc. to Grayson Mill Operating, LLC: 379 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 September 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.