January 2026

North Dakota's oil month in January 2026, from the public record.

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in January 2026. 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 output1,127,097barrels a day0.2% below the month before · 4.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil18,629plus 173 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded41oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed976 spacing and 96 pooling actions

Crude price$53.92a barrel, first purchase$68.76 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.4%

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

Drilling

41 oil and gas wells have a spud date in January 2026 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Mountrail 18, McKenzie 16, Burke 3, Divide 2, Bottineau 1.

Hearings and orders

97 Industrial Commission orders signed in January 2026 are in the project's order index, with 6 spacing and 96 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: WPX Energy Williston, LLC (12), Phoenix Operating LLC (10), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (9). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

105 operators filed rows in the January 2026 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,747), Devon Energy Williston, L.L.C. (2,085), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,980), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,972), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,785).

The operator of record changed on 44 wells since their previous report.

White Rock Oil & Gas, LLC to Morningstar Operating LLC: 21 wells
Legacy Reserves Operating LP to Granite Creek Energy LLC: 20 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 January 2026, 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.