Hunt Oil Co. is a substantial North Dakota Bakken operator carrying 1,890 total wells — 983 active and 991 producing — with a plugged count of 297. Its current regulatory momentum is concentrated entirely in Divide County, where 4 pending cases (2 spacing units, 2 pooling) are all calendared for the September 24, 2026 hearing. The operator has banked 6 wells authorized through the pipeline and holds a 97% historical win rate. Recent orders span Burke, Divide, and Mountrail counties, signaling a multi-county operational footprint even as near-term docket activity is laser-focused on Divide.
All 4 pending cases sit in Divide County and share a single hearing date: September 24, 2026. Two cases target the Smoky Butte-Bakken Pool at Sections 21, 28, 33, T.160N., R.100W. — a spacing unit (case 33196) seeking 2 wells across 1,920 acres, and a companion pooling case (33209). Both are fresh filings with no prior continuances. Two cases target the Frazier-Bakken Pool at Sections 13, 14, 15, T.161N., R.97W. — a spacing unit (case 32870) seeking 4 wells across 1,920 acres, and a companion pooling case (32888). Both were first heard May 28, 2026, have been continued once, and remain in 'continued pending' status. A fifth location, case 33030 (Writing Rock-Bakken, filed jointly with Petro-Hunt, L.L.C.), covers Sections 23–26, 35–36, T.161N., R.101W. in Divide County and had a July 30, 2026 hearing; that site has 3 prior wells and is not greenfield.
Hunt carries 1,890 total wells: 983 active, 991 producing now, and 297 plugged. The near-identical active and producing figures leave virtually no idle-but-capable buffer, meaning the operator's production trajectory is directly tied to new-well authorization and drilling activity rather than reactivation of existing inventory. The momentum ramp score stands at 7.4, with 6 wells authorized through the pipeline and an average case probability of 57.5%. Work types on file span the full development stack: drilling rigs, frac crews, frac sand, new-pad dirt & construction, and water logistics & trucking.
Eight orders have been signed since mid-July 2026. The most recent are two Pooling Orders (35565 and 35564) for the Vanville-Bakken Pool in Burke County, both signed August 17, 2026. Three Commingling Authorizations were signed July 28: one for Smoky Butte Field in Divide County (order 35817, covering Alexandria-Bakken, Sioux Trail-Bakken, and Smoky Butte-Bakken Pools), and two for Ross Field in Mountrail County (orders 35815 and 35736). A fourth Commingling Authorization (35816) for Thompson Lake Field and Dimond Field in Burke County was signed August 7. Earlier, a Pooling Application Hearing order (35813) for the Frazier-Bakken Pool in Divide County was signed July 17, and a Spacing Modification and Pool Redefinition order (34775) for Alexandria in Divide County was signed July 15. The operator's 97% win rate across its docket history anchors confidence in continued approvals.
The operational and regulatory timelines are converging tightly around the Smoky Butte-Bakken play. A commingling authorization for the Smoky Butte Field was executed July 28, 2026 (order 35817), and within weeks Hunt filed spacing and pooling cases for the same pool — both now set for the September 24 hearing with near-certain progression probabilities of 99.9% and 98.9%. That sequencing — infrastructure authorization preceding or accompanying land-position filings — points to an operator moving deliberately toward near-term development rather than exploratory positioning. The Frazier-Bakken cases, by contrast, remain in a continued posture with low progression probabilities despite the same strong win-rate backdrop, suggesting a separate negotiation or technical review is still in progress. The next hearing date of September 24, 2026 is the single near-term event that will resolve the status of all 4 active Divide County cases simultaneously.