Bakken Rig Count is at 64

October 10, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

Abraxas Buys Bakken Acreage — Bakken Rigs

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count dropped to 64 rigs running across our coverage area by end of the week on Friday.

In recent Bakken news, North Dakota officials are hopeful that they have some flexibility for complying with the EPA’s new emissions-reducing Clean Power Plan.

The U.S. rig count fell by 14 this week, ending with 795 rigs running by midday Friday. A total of 189 rigs were targeting natural gas (six less than the previous week) and 605 were targeting oil in the U.S. (9 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 64are in ND alone.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The Bakken oil rigs were at 64 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices trading at $50.18/bbl on Friday afternoon. WTI-Brent increased $5.26landing to $53.51. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures decreasing slightly to $2.49/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County continues to lead development with 25 rigs running this week, far outpacing other counties. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

62 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
2 rigs are drilling directional wells
0 rigs are drilling vertical wells

Be sure to visit our Bakken Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

Bakken Drilling by County

Bakken Oil & Gas News

District Court Blocks New Fracking Regulations

Chesapeake Cut 740 Jobs

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.

Bakken Rig Count Drops to 91

April 3, 2015 Elizabeth Alford

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count dropped by six at 91 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Thursday.

In recent Bakken news, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released the latest data for crude by rail (CBR) across the country that shows a significant increase over the last five years. Crude by rail continues to be highly controversial as people question the safety for individuals and the environment.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs dropped to 91 rigs as of by midday Thursday. WTI oil prices decreased $.91 from the previous week, trading at $49.14/bbl on Friday afternoon. The WTI-Brent saw an increase of $2.75 by week’s end, landing at $54.95. There are currently no natural active gas rigs in the area and futures are trading at $2.71/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County continues to lead development but dropped to 40 running rigs this week. Williams (18) and Mountrail (17) 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:

91 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
0 rigs are drilling directional wells
0 rigs are drilling vertical wells

Bakken Drilling by County

Bakken Drilling by County Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

Methane Emissions Drop

Oil Export Ban May Hurt Economy

Excellence Awards Honor Continental & Whiting

What is the Rig Count?

Methane Emissions from Two Main Sources says UT Study

December 10, 2014 Elizabeth Alford

A new study led by researchers from The University of Texas hopes to provide clues to better understand the correlation between well technology and methane emissions during the natural gas production process.

The findings, published December 9th in Environmental Science & Technology, indicate that the overwhelming majority of methane emissions are from two types of wells; those that use pneumatic devices and those that use liquid unloading.

According to the study, 19% of Pneumatic Devices were responsible for 95% of methane emissions and were highest in the Gulf Coast Region, which was a similar result to the first part of the study conducted in 2013. As for Liquid Unloading, 20% of these devices account for 65-85% emissions. Conversely, this finding showed emissions were highest (~50%) in the Rocky Mountain Region due to the higher number of wells that utilize Unloading.

“David Allen, principal researcher and professor at Cockrell School gives some perspective on the findings by sharing that “over the past several decades, 10 percent of the cars on the road have been responsible for the majority of automotive exhaust pollution,” said Allen. “Similarly, a small group of sources within these two categories are responsible for the vast majority of pneumatic and unloading emissions at natural gas production sites.”

Hopefully this study, and others like it, will provide important data to help industry leaders as they work to create solutions to the growing concern over methane emissions in the Bakken and around the country.

To view a full research summary, visit Cockrell School of Engineering.

Bakken Shale Rig Count Increases by Five to 189

August 11, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

Magnum Hunter Resources Bakken Acreage Map

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by five to 189 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 193 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 23 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, Magnum Hunter announced last week that the company will sell its Divide County, North Dakota operated/non-operated properties and reallocate resources to core operations in the Appalachian Basin. Baytex Energy, Continental Resources, or Samson Resources are all likely buyers for the acreage.

The U.S. rig count increased by 19 to 1,908 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 316 rigs were targeting natural gas (three more than the previous week) and 1,588 were targeting oil in the U.S. (15 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 191 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 182 are in ND alone.

Not all rigs counted in our census are drilling for the Bakken, but it's close. The NDIC estimates 95% or more of activity in this region targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

Note: The NDIC reports 193 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is two more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 11 more than the company reports in North Dakota. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working, rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes AND rigs in areas outside of the Bakken fairway. On any given week, a certain number of rigs are in route to the next well location or idle waiting to drill the next well. The NDIC notes that around 23 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs increased by five to 189 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices stayed relatively flat from the previous week, trading at $97.57/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $84.19/bbl on Aug. 7th. The WTI-Brent stayed flat, settling at ~$7 by the end of last week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading at $3.97/mmbtu by the end of last week. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas and roughly half of that is NGLs.

McKenzie County continues to lead development with 65 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

174 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
14 rigs are drilling directional wells
1 rig is drilling a vertical well

Bakken Oil & Gas News

Be sure to visit our Bakken Job Listings to search openings and come back weekly for updates or sign up for alerts - Daily or Weekly Email Alerts

Bakken Drilling by County

What is the Rig Count?

Bakken Rig Count 176 - Koch Cancels Bakken Pipeline - Jan 24, 2014

January 27, 2014 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by one to 176 running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 187 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 14 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, Koch cancelled its proposed "Dakota Express Pipeline." The Koch cancellation is surprising considering there are more than 500,000 b/d of oil moving by rail out of the basin per day at current estimates. Read more here: Koch Cancels Proposed Bakken Pipeline

The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1,777 running over the past week. A total of 356 rigs are targeting natural gas (9 less than last week) and 1,416 are targeting oil in the U.S. (8 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 179 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. That's up one from last week.

Not all rigs counted in our census are drilling for the Bakken, but it's close. The NDIC estimates 95% or more of activity in this region targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

Note: The NDIC reports 187 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 11 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working, rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes AND rigs in areas outside of the Bakken fairway. On any given week, a certain number of rigs are in route to the next well location or idle waiting to drill the next well. The NDIC notes that around 14 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.