Bakken Rig Count Increases

Bakken Rig Count Remains Steady
Bakken Rig Count Increases

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count gained one this week with 76 rigs running across our coverage area.

In recent Bakken news,OPEC announced last they will stick with their policy to produce oil at a high rate, a measure that may signal they are underestimating Bakken producers.

Read more:OPEC Decision Doesn’t Intimidate

The U.S. rig count slowed its decline this week falling by two to 857 rigs running by midday Friday.  A total of 223 rigs were targeting natural gas (dtwo more than the previous week) and 631 were targeting oil in the U.S. (four less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)76 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 76 are in ND alone.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The Bakken oil rigs stayed at 75 rigs this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices trading at $59.61/bbl on Friday afternoon, an $.37 decrease from the previous week. WTI-Brent fell $.67 landing to $63.02. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures increasing to $2.82/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County continues to lead development and is running 3o running this week. Williams (17) and Mountrail (13) counties are the next closest producers. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

  • 74 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
  • 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
  • 1 rigs are drilling vertical wells

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Bakken Drilling by County

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What is the Rig Count?

The Bakken Shale Rig Count is an index of the total number of oil & gas drilling rigs running across Montana and North Dakota. The rigs referred to in this article are for ALL drilling reported by Baker Hughes and not solely wells targeting the Bakken formation. All land rigs and onshore rig data shown here are based upon industry estimates provided by the Baker Hughes Rig Count.

Read more at bakerhughes.com