History in North Dakota and the Bakken
Written by Fort Union from the public sources listed below; bracketed numbers refer to that list.
Corporate background
Phoenix Energy One, LLC, formerly Phoenix Capital Group Holdings, LLC, says in its annual report that it was formed in April 2019 and changed its name in January 2025. The report describes a business focused on oil and gas acquisitions and operations, with a three-part strategy: direct drilling of operated working interests, acquiring royalty assets, and acquiring non-operated working interests. Its direct drilling is currently focused on the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana and on the Powder River and Denver-Julesburg basins in Wyoming [1]. Its operating arm, Phoenix Operating LLC, was formed in January 2022 to drill, complete and operate wells [1].
Entering operated drilling in North Dakota
Phoenix's website says Phoenix Operating was launched in 2023 as the company's dedicated operating arm and that its initial drilling efforts are centered in Williams and Divide counties, North Dakota, using three-mile Bakken laterals; the drilling program officially launched in September 2023 [2]. As of October 15, 2026 the company's operating page reported 156 producing wells in North Dakota and Montana and 43 under development, grouped by project area (Alamo/Tioga, Stanley, Shogun, Knife River, Noonan/Beaver Lake and Grasslands), and cited drilling records on four-mile laterals, including a 20,797-foot lateral and fastest-drilled times in the Alamo area [2]. Its page also says the company is preparing to develop acreage in Laramie and Converse counties, Wyoming [2].
The annual report gives further detail at year-end 2025: Phoenix Operating had drilled 97 gross (86.7 net) productive development wells, all in the Williston Basin in North Dakota and Montana, plus 19 saltwater disposal wells, and had 61 gross (45.0 net) development wells in progress on December 31, 2025 [1]. The filing's operating statistics for Bakken production show 8.77 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2025, an average of 24,030 barrels a day, against 3.51 million and 9,590 a day in 2024 and 1.22 million and 3,342 a day in 2023, so reported Bakken production grew from 1.22 million barrels of oil equivalent in 2023 to 8.77 million in 2025 [1]. These production tables cover the company as a whole, not only the wells it operates.
Mineral and royalty position
Phoenix is also a buyer of mineral and royalty interests. In its 10-K it reports interests in 7,768 gross productive wells, of which 4,537 gross oil wells (120.2 net) are in the Bakken/Williston Basin, and 107,233 net royalty acres in the Bakken/Williston Basin, 23,637 of them developed and 83,596 undeveloped [1]. The filing says third-party operators drilled most of the wells on that acreage; for mineral owners the point is that Phoenix may appear both as a payor and as an operator in the same county.
Where it ranks
North Dakota's Department of Mineral Resources lists 'Phoenix Operating LLC' eighth on its 2026 top-ten oil producers slide, with 9,688,805 barrels (3.5% of North Dakota production) through August 2026, just ahead of Petro-Hunt and Slawson [3]. The DMR's active drilling rig list, as read on October 25, 2026, showed three rigs working for Phoenix Operating on Divide County wells and a fourth rig drilling a saltwater disposal well in McKenzie County [4].
What Phoenix publishes for owners
Phoenix's public contact page offers a general phone number and department emails; for mineral owners the relevant department is 'Mineral Rights', with its own email address, and the page lists North Dakota offices in Williston and Dickinson [5]. Our index card lists the Mineral Rights department contact, the company's Williston offices and its Dickinson office as published.
Relevant news and sources
The sources this history was drawn from, in the order they are first cited. Links were checked when this page was built.
- Phoenix Energy One, LLC Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — SEC, filed 2026.
- Phoenix Operating: Oil & Gas Operations — Phoenix Energy, figures as of Oct 15, 2026. Company-reported figures.
- Director's Cut, October 2026: Top 10 oil producers in ND (slide 18) — ND Department of Mineral Resources, Oct 20, 2026. Year-to-date oil production through August 2026.
- Active Drilling Rig List — ND Department of Mineral Resources, read Oct 25, 2026. Live page that changes daily; counts quoted here are as read on Oct 25, 2026.
- Contact Phoenix Energy — Phoenix Energy, read Oct 25, 2026.
Logos are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to identify each company; their use does not imply affiliation with or endorsement by Fort Union Minerals. Ranking basis: 2026 year-to-date oil production through August, million barrels; source: North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, Director's Cut (October 20, 2026), slide 18.
