May 2024

North Dakota's oil month in May 2024, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 2024. 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 output1,199,000barrels a day3.5% below the month before · 5.2% above a year earlier

Wells reporting oil18,417plus 150 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded99oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed6141 spacing and 53 pooling actions

Crude price$73.11a barrel, first purchase$67.24 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.6%

Oil output, January 2003 to August 2026; the dot marks May 2024.

What stood out

The operator of record changed from Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp. to Neptune Operating LLC on 219 wells.

Drilling

99 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2024 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Williams 39, Dunn 29, Mountrail 13, Divide 9, McKenzie 8.

Hearings and orders

61 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2024 are in the project's order index, with 41 spacing and 53 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Marathon Oil Co. (14), Iron Oil Operating, LLC (9), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (6). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

104 operators filed rows in the May 2024 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,512), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,977), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,818), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,691), Grayson Mill Operating, LLC (1,254).

The operator of record changed on 225 wells since their previous report.

Crescent Point Energy U.S. Corp. to Neptune Operating LLC: 219 wells
Northwestern Production LLC to P.o. & G. Operating, LLC: 5 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 May 2024, 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.