May 2026

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

Written on November 8, 2026, looking back. This issue was not published in May 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 output1,119,806barrels a day1.3% below the month before · 0.7% below a year earlier

Wells reporting oil19,198plus 207 confidential wells whose volumes are withheld

Wells spudded66oil and gas wells, by spud date

Orders signed85331 spacing and 46 pooling actions

Crude price$102.06a barrel, first purchase$54.98 a year earlier

Flared share of reported gas4.4%

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

Drilling

66 oil and gas wells have a spud date in May 2026 in the state's wells layer of November 6, 2026. By county: Divide 19, McKenzie 16, Mountrail 14, Williams 11, Burke 4.

Hearings and orders

85 Industrial Commission orders signed in May 2026 are in the project's order index, with 331 spacing and 46 pooling actions on spacing units. Most frequent applicants: Formentera Operations LLC (21), Continental Resources, Inc. (19), Phoenix Operating LLC (19). The facts are machine-extracted from the signed orders and not individually reviewed.

Operators

109 operators filed rows in the May 2026 report. Most wells reported: Continental Resources, Inc. (2,750), Devon Energy Williston, L.L.C. (2,114), Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation (1,998), Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC (1,996), Oasis Petroleum North America LLC (1,806).

The operator of record changed on 3 wells since their previous report. No single change covered five or more 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 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.