NDIC News
A running digest of the North Dakota Industrial Commission and Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Oil and Gas Division. Each business day has its own page summarizing the division's daily activity report: new permits, confidential-status changes, operator changes and the rig count. Other DMR updates such as hearing dockets and monthly production briefings appear below the daily list.
Subscribe via RSSLatest daily report summarized: Friday, October 23, 2026. The Division posts every report at dmr.nd.gov/oilgas. Last updated October 25, 2026.
Report 19621 is a light day: three new permits, all for Whiting Oil and Gas in McKenzie County, each a drill-back in the Middle Creek field on the same pad. One Whiting well came off confidential status, and Enerplus renewed six McKenzie County permits in the Antelope field while cancelling one in Williams County.
Report 19620 shows one new permit, for Whiting Oil and Gas in McKenzie County, and two permit cancellations, one in Williams County and one in Bottineau County. Two wells came off confidential status, in Dunn and McKenzie counties.
Report 19619 approved one new permit, a confidential Devon well in Dunn County in the Wolf Bay field that sits outside its spacing unit. The rest of the day was housekeeping: five surface-location changes in Burke and Dunn counties, four wells released from confidential status and a well name change, plus a completed disposal well in McKenzie County. The rig count of 38 is the highest in this set of reports.
Report 19618 approved four permits for Slawson Exploration on the Ambush pad in Williams County, all development wells. Two saltwater disposal permits were approved in McKenzie County, and two wells came off confidential status in Mountrail and Dunn counties.
Report 19617 approved five permits, one for Burlington Resources in McKenzie County and four drill-back wells on another McKenzie County pad. Ten wells came off confidential status, spread among Enerplus, XTO, Silver Hill, Hess Bakken Investments II and Whiting. Eight wells in McKenzie, Burke and Divide counties changed operator from Stearns Oil Company to Burnett Energy, and the rig count rose by two to 37.
Report 19616 approved five permits: two Oasis drill-back wells in McLean County (MHA Grizzly) and three drill-backs on a Williams County pad. XTO received two surface-location changes in Dunn County, and five wells came off confidential status in Williams, Mountrail and McKenzie counties. Burlington Resources renewed four McKenzie County permits and reported one older producing well as abandoned.
Report 19615 is short: four EOG permits for the Ross pad in Mountrail County and five wells released from confidential status in Williams, Mountrail and McKenzie counties. The rig count held at 36.
Report 19614 approved four permits: one each for Petro-Hunt and Formentera in Divide County, one for Devon in Dunn County and one more on a Mountrail County pad. A saltwater disposal permit for Dakota Fluid Solutions was approved in Dunn County, EOG moved a McKenzie County surface location, and three wells came off confidential status. The active rig count rose by three to 36.
Report 19613 approved four permits, two for Petro-Hunt in Divide County and two for Silver Hill Energy in Burke County. Ten wells came off confidential status, led by Whiting, Oasis and XTO, and three more Oasis wells in Mountrail County were approved for confidential status. Five wells in Divide County were renamed, and the rig count dropped to 33.
Report 19612 approved four development permits for a single McKenzie County pad and one saltwater disposal permit for Henry Hill Oil Services in Dunn County. Four wells came off confidential status in Williams, Divide and McKenzie counties, and the rig count rose by two to 36.
Report 19611 approved a single new permit, Continental's Billings 7-16H in Williams County, a confidential well outside its spacing unit. The more notable entry is administrative: 20 saltwater disposal wells in Divide, Williams, McKenzie, Mountrail and Burke counties changed operator. Hess Bakken Investments II was granted confidential status on one McKenzie County well.
Report 19610 approved seven permits, six for Devon in Williams County and one for EOG in McKenzie County. Seventeen Renville and Bottineau County wells moved from Zargon Oil to Marza Oil, continuing a transfer that began the day before. Dakota Fluid Solutions received a disposal-well permit in Dunn County.
Report 19609 moved 81 wells in Bottineau and Renville counties from Zargon Oil to Marza Oil, the largest operator transfer of the day. Oasis received three Dunn County permits, Burlington Resources reported two McKenzie County completions and cancelled two permits there, and the rig count fell by three to 33.
Report 19608 records the largest transfer in this set: 506 wells, mostly in Williams and McKenzie counties, changed operator from Neptune Operating to Kraken Operating. The report also approved nine new permits, four for Murex Petroleum and one for KODA Resources in Divide County and four for Kraken in McKenzie County, and seven wells were approved for confidential status.
Report 19607 approved six permit entries for Oasis on the Potter and Weasley pad in Dunn County, several of them drill-backs outside the spacing unit. Three more wells were approved for confidential status, KODA Resources had two Divide County permits cancelled, and the rig count was 35.
Report 19606 approved three Formentera permits in Divide County, drill-backs on the Laguna Loma pad. The administrative headline is a name change: 133 wells in McKenzie, Mountrail and Dunn counties moved from SOGC, Inc. to SOGC, LLC. EOG reported a Mountrail County completion in the Parshall field producing 1,284 barrels of oil and 2,272 barrels of water a day.
Report 19605 approved six development permits for Kraken on the Roughneck pad in Williams County and a re-entry modification for Marlo Operating in Bowman County. Four newly completed Zavanna wells on the Mastiff pad in Williams County reported initial oil rates between 632 and 1,484 barrels a day, and EOG and Slawson each reported a Mountrail County completion.
The Oil and Gas Division's dockets for November 18 (cases 33286 to 33334) and November 19 (cases 33335 to 33375) were both last updated on October 21. The November 19 docket includes spacing-unit applications in McKenzie, Mountrail, Williams, Burke and Billings counties ranging from 1,920 to 5,120 acres, pooling applications in Divide County and Mountrail County, and several saltwater disposal well requests. The November 18 docket includes spacing and pooling applications from Whiting, Oasis, Devon, Burlington Resources, Hess Bakken Investments II and others in McKenzie, McLean, Mountrail, Williams, Burke and Stark counties.
What it means for mineral owners: Spacing and pooling cases decide which tracts share a well and how production is allocated; owners with acreage in a named section can read the application and appear at the hearing.
Source: Docket for November 19, 2026 (PDF) · Docket for November 18, 2026 (PDF)
At its October 20 briefing the Department of Mineral Resources reported August production of 36,004,228 barrels of oil, or 1,161,427 barrels a day, up 0.24% from July and 5.58% above the state's 1.1 million-barrel-a-day revenue forecast. Bakken and Three Forks wells supplied 97.5% of output. The slides also show the state rig count trending at 31 in October versus 28 in September, a record 20,177 producing wells in August, statewide gas capture of 95.8% and an average completed lateral of 14,252 feet so far in the third quarter, pending more data.
What it means for mineral owners: Longer laterals mean larger spacing units, so more owners share in each well; check unit notices for how your acreage is allocated.
Source: DMR Director's Cut, October 2026 slides (PDF) · Director's Cut page
Summaries are written by Fort Union from the linked official documents as of October 25, 2026. Daily summaries show a selection of entries; the official report controls.