North Dakota Drilling Permits
The Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin kicked off the US shale revolution. Tight oil requires horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
All Time
As of January 17, 2026
Recent Activity
As of January 17, 2026
Year over Year
Top Operators in North Dakota
| Rank | Operator | Permits (30d) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OASIS PETROLEUM NORTH AMERICA LLC | 9 | 25.7% |
| 2 | KRAKEN OPERATING, LLC | 6 | 17.1% |
| 3 | MARATHON OIL COMPANY | 6 | 17.1% |
| 4 | KODA RESOURCES OPERATING, LLC | 3 | 8.6% |
| 5 | Phoenix Operating LLC | 3 | 8.6% |
| 6 | HUNT OIL COMPANY | 3 | 8.6% |
| 7 | DEVON ENERGY WILLISTON, L.L.C | 2 | 5.7% |
| 8 | PETRO-HUNT, L.L.C. | 1 | 2.9% |
| 9 | Zavanna Energy Operating, LLC | 1 | 2.9% |
| 10 | FORMENTERA OPERATIONS, LLC | 1 | 2.9% |
Major Basins in North Dakota
Williston Basin
View Williston Basin rig count →Bakken Formation
View Bakken Formation rig count →Data Source
Data Coverage
1904-12-23 to 2026-01-07
Update Frequency
Daily updates (business days)
Access This Data via API
Access North Dakota well permit data programmatically. Historical data, trends, and more.
/v1/drilling-intelligence/well-permits?state=NDcurl -X GET "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/drilling-intelligence/well-permits?state=ND"
Sample Response
{
"data": {
"state": "North Dakota",
"state_code": "ND",
"total_permits": 41703,
"last_30_days": 35,
"last_365_days": 853,
"year_over_year_change": "-8.7%",
"top_operators": [
{
"name": "OASIS PETROLEUM NORTH AMERICA LLC",
"permits": 9,
"pct_share": "25.7%"
},
{
"name": "KRAKEN OPERATING, LLC",
"permits": 6,
"pct_share": "17.1%"
},
{
"name": "MARATHON OIL COMPANY",
"permits": 6,
"pct_share": "17.1%"
}
]
},
"meta": {
"source": "North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC)",
"update_frequency": "daily",
"updated_at": "2026-01-17T09:25:02.786Z"
}
}North Dakota Drilling Permit FAQs
North Dakota has 41,703 total drilling permits tracked in our database, with 35 permits issued in the last 30 days. The North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) updates permit data daily.
North Dakota includes the Williston Basin, Bakken Formation basins. The Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin kicked off the US shale revolution. Tight oil requires horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
The top operators in North Dakota by permit count are: OASIS PETROLEUM NORTH AMERICA LLC (25.7%), KRAKEN OPERATING, LLC (17.1%), MARATHON OIL COMPANY (17.1%).
Official permit data comes from the North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) (https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/). OilPriceAPI aggregates this data and provides it via API with historical trends and operator analytics.