Montana Drilling Permits
Montana's portion of the Bakken is less developed than North Dakota but contains significant reserves. The Elm Coulee field was an early Bakken success.
All Time
As of January 17, 2026
Recent Activity
As of January 17, 2026
Year over Year
Top Operators in Montana
| Rank | Operator | Permits (30d) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USGS | 40 | 8.7% |
| 2 | Kraken Operating, LLC | 29 | 6.3% |
| 3 | No Bonded Operator | 21 | 4.6% |
| 4 | Aberdeen Resources Corp | 15 | 3.3% |
| 5 | Mon-Dak Utilities Co. & Fidelity Gas Co. | 14 | 3.0% |
| 6 | Continental Resources Inc | 13 | 2.8% |
| 7 | Amerada Hess Corporation | 12 | 2.6% |
| 8 | Devon Energy Williston, L.L.C. | 10 | 2.2% |
| 9 | Unknown | 9 | 2.0% |
| 10 | Cruse, Tom | 8 | 1.7% |
Major Basins in Montana
Williston Basin (Montana portion)
View Williston Basin (Montana portion) rig count →Powder River Basin (Montana portion)
View Powder River Basin (Montana portion) rig count →Data Source
Data Coverage
1890-01-01 to 2026-01-01
Update Frequency
Weekly updates
Access This Data via API
Access Montana well permit data programmatically. Historical data, trends, and more.
/v1/drilling-intelligence/well-permits?state=MTcurl -X GET "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/drilling-intelligence/well-permits?state=MT"
Sample Response
{
"data": {
"state": "Montana",
"state_code": "MT",
"total_permits": 41877,
"last_30_days": 461,
"last_365_days": 487,
"year_over_year_change": "+801.9%",
"top_operators": [
{
"name": "USGS",
"permits": 40,
"pct_share": "8.7%"
},
{
"name": "Kraken Operating, LLC",
"permits": 29,
"pct_share": "6.3%"
},
{
"name": "No Bonded Operator",
"permits": 21,
"pct_share": "4.6%"
}
]
},
"meta": {
"source": "Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation",
"update_frequency": "weekly",
"updated_at": "2026-01-17T09:24:56.548Z"
}
}Montana Drilling Permit FAQs
Montana has 41,877 total drilling permits tracked in our database, with 461 permits issued in the last 30 days. The Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation updates permit data weekly.
Montana includes the Williston Basin (Montana portion), Powder River Basin (Montana portion) basins. Montana's portion of the Bakken is less developed than North Dakota but contains significant reserves. The Elm Coulee field was an early Bakken success.
The top operators in Montana by permit count are: USGS (8.7%), Kraken Operating, LLC (6.3%), No Bonded Operator (4.6%).
Official permit data comes from the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation (https://dnrc.mt.gov/divisions/trust/oil-and-gas-program). OilPriceAPI aggregates this data and provides it via API with historical trends and operator analytics.