Hess Bakken Investments II, LLC is a mature, large-scale Bakken operator with 3,569 total wells, 1,741 active, and 1,815 producing as of mid-2026. The company carries no pending docket momentum at this moment but has filed six new spacing and pooling cases heard in May–June 2026 across Williams and Mountrail counties, all at the 'spacing approved – no permit yet' stage. Simultaneously, three commingling authorizations were signed on a single day in June across Mountrail, McKenzie, and Williams counties, signaling active infrastructure optimization across its existing footprint. The operator's historical win rate sits at 83–85% depending on case type, and ML progression probabilities on its newest filings range from 69.6% to 100%.
Hess Bakken Investments II has six active development cases filed in 2026, split between Williams County (Ray-Bakken and Dollar Joe-Bakken pools) and Mountrail County (White Earth, Pleasant Valley, and Big Butte-Bakken pools). The May 27, 2026 hearing batch covered four cases — one spacing unit in Williams (case 32826, 3,840 acres, 1 well authorized) and three Mountrail cases including a 2,560-acre spacing unit authorizing 2 wells (case 32827) and two pooling applications (cases 32854 and 32855). A second hearing date of June 24, 2026 covers the Dollar Joe-Bakken pair in Williams County: a 2,560-acre spacing unit authorizing 2 wells (case 32919) and a companion pooling case (case 32933). All six cases are at stage rank 0 — spacing approved, no permit yet — with zero wells spudded or permitted across the batch. Prior-well counts on these locations range from 5 to 27, confirming all are established areas.
The operator's total well count stands at 3,569, of which 1,741 are active and 1,815 are producing now. A further 1,053 wells are plugged. The gap between active and producing figures is worth noting: more wells are producing than are classified active, which in ND regulatory accounting can reflect wells on various operational statuses. No momentum metrics — pending cases, high-probability wells, or authorized-but-unspudded wells — are currently registered, consistent with a company between active drilling campaigns.
Eight orders have been signed since late April 2026. The most recent cluster — three commingling authorizations on June 22, 2026 — covers Robinson Lake-Bakken (Mountrail, order 35783), Blue Buttes-Bakken (McKenzie, order 35782), and Wheelock-Bakken (Williams, order 35784). These follow a forced pooling order and a spacing unit establishment/amendment for Tioga-Bakken in Mountrail, both signed June 12, 2026 (orders 34472 and 34446). Two additional commingling authorizations were signed May 11, 2026 — one covering Beaver Lodge-Bakken and Tioga-Bakken in Williams County (order 35532) and one covering Antelope Creek-Bakken and Sather Lake-Bakken in McKenzie County (order 35289). A regulatory decision on Robinson Lake-Bakken in Mountrail was signed April 28, 2026 (order 31179). The operator's historical win rate across its docket is 83–85%.
Two threads converge here. First, the simultaneous filing of spacing and pooling cases alongside a wave of commingling authorizations across three counties on a single date points to deliberate, coordinated field development — Hess is not filing opportunistically but appears to be executing a planned expansion cycle with infrastructure already being rationalized in parallel. Second, the portfolio's large plugged-well count relative to total wells, combined with the exclusively non-greenfield character of all six new cases, suggests capital discipline: Hess is deepening its position in proven areas rather than opening new fronts. The lower progression probabilities on the Dollar Joe-Bakken cases (75% and 69.6%) versus the Mountrail cases (97–98%) may reflect that Williams County's Dollar Joe pool is less precedented in Hess's own docket history, making it the one case cluster worth watching most closely for regulatory friction.