Oil & gas wells in Nelson County, ND
46 catalogued wells in Nelson County, North Dakota, from the state regulator registry and the federal orphaned-well inventory.
Dataset updated . Derived from public data sources.
At a glance
Nelson County, North Dakota has 46 catalogued oil & gas wells: 0 active (0%), 40 plugged & abandoned (87%) and 0 documented orphans. It ranks 20th of the 32 North Dakota counties WellCensus profiles by well count and holds 0.1% of the state's 43,680 catalogued wells.
Catalogued wells
46
Active
0
Plugged
40
Documented orphans
0
What is the status of oil and gas wells in Nelson County?
0% of Nelson County's wells are active, 47 percentage points below the North Dakota share of 47%. 87% are plugged & abandoned, against 29% statewide and 47% nationally. No documented orphaned wells are recorded in Nelson County; North Dakota as a whole has 562. The remaining 6 carry status codes outside those classes, such as permitted or cancelled locations.
What kinds of wells are in Nelson County?
By product class, 30 of the county's wells (65%) are oil wells, 0 (0%) gas wells and 0 (0%) injection wells. Statewide the oil share is 92% and the gas share 0.9%. The deepest total depth published for a Nelson County well is 2,990 ft, against 31,781 ft for North Dakota as a whole. 100% of the county's wells carry coordinates and appear on the map.
How does Nelson County compare with other North Dakota counties?
Nelson County has the 20th-most catalogued wells of the 32 North Dakota counties with at least 25. The median North Dakota county on WellCensus has 57 wells. The largest, Mckenzie County, has 10,933.
Who operates wells in Nelson County?
13 distinct operators of record are linked to wells in Nelson County. 100% of the county's wells carry a link to a canonical operator profile; the rest list no operator or a name not yet resolved. Each well's page names its operator where the state publishes one.
Wells in Nelson County
🔒 Create a free account to export CSV| Well | API # / state ID | Status | Type | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Lamb 1 | 33-063-00001 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Oil Exploration Co. |
| Minnie Twete 1 | 33-063-00002 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Wetch-Zachmeier-Disney Drilling Co. |
| L. And A. Bryl 1 | 33-063-00003 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Reelfoot Development Company, Inc. |
| Walter M. Fowler 1 | 33-063-00004 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Oil Exploration Co. |
| Albert Bjorge 1 | 33-063-00005 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Chambers & Kennedy |
| Selmer J. Quam Et Al 1 | 33-063-00006 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Chambers & Kennedy |
| Sezel Hillesland 1-13 | 33-063-00007 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Northern Resources, Inc. |
| Ted Bryl And B. Breeden 1 | 33-063-00008 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Ervin Olson 1 | 33-063-00009 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Sydney L. Haas 1 | 33-063-00010 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| C. O. Hvidsten 1 | 33-063-00011 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Arthur Quanbeck 1 | 33-063-00012 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Arvid Flaaggen 1 | 33-063-00013 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Axal Anderson 1 | 33-063-00014 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Gritz 1 | 33-063-00015 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Jack M. Johnston Drilling Co. |
| Ed Lamb Et Al 1 | 33-063-00016 | Other status | Oil | Dyna Ray Oil & Gas Company, Inc. |
| Irving Marquart 1 | 33-063-00017 | Other status | Oil | Dyna Ray Oil & Gas Company, Inc. |
| Floyd Fisk 1 | 33-063-00018 | Other status | Oil | Dyna Ray Oil & Gas Company, Inc. |
| Albert Olson 1 | 33-063-00019 | Other status | Oil | Dyna Ray Oil & Gas Company, Inc. |
| Quam 1 | 33-063-00020 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Colorado Oil & Gas Corp. |
| Norman Lavanger 1 | 33-063-00021 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Russell Drilling Company, Inc. |
| Allen Smaalden 1 | 33-063-00022 | Other status | Oil | Russell Drilling Company, Inc. |
| Galde 1 | 33-063-00023 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Petrotex Management Co. |
| Peterson 1 | 33-063-00024 | Other status | Oil | Petrotex Management Co. |
| Galde 1a | 33-063-00025 | Plugged & abandoned | Oil | Petrotex Management Co. |
A sample of the county’s wells — every catalogued well has its own page. Browse all 46 in search → (filter by operator, status and type, then export), or find a specific well on the live map.
Frequently asked questions
How many oil and gas wells are in Nelson County, ND?
Nelson County, North Dakota has 46 catalogued oil & gas wells: 0 active, 40 plugged and 0 documented orphans.
How many orphaned wells are in Nelson County?
No documented orphaned wells are currently recorded in Nelson County, North Dakota.
What share of wells in Nelson County are plugged?
40 of Nelson County's 46 catalogued wells (87%) are plugged & abandoned, compared with 29% across North Dakota.
Which North Dakota county has the most oil and gas wells?
Mckenzie County has the most catalogued wells of any North Dakota county on WellCensus (10,933); Nelson County ranks 20th with 46.
How many companies operate wells in Nelson County?
13 distinct operators of record are linked to catalogued wells in Nelson County, North Dakota.
Nearby in the North Dakota rankings
About this data
Source: North Dakota DMR Oil & Gas Division well registry, plus the USGS United States Documented Orphaned Well Database (2026, doi 10.5066/P13FHBYG), as published October 10, 2026 — WellCensus refreshes it monthly. See the methodology for how records are matched, cleaned and scored.
Cite as: WellCensus, “Oil & gas wells in Nelson County, North Dakota”, https://wellcensus.com/wells/north-dakota/nelson (data as of October 10, 2026).