The Bakken-Three Forks rig count continues to bounce around and landed lower this week. Baker Hughes reporting 42 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.
In recent Bakken Shale news, President Donald Trump formally resurrected the Keystone XL Pipeline by granting a permit for construction to continue and offering help to speed the process. This marks a reversal from the previous administration, when Barak Obama worked to block the controversial pipeline.
Read more: ND Lawmakers Side with Trump on Keystone
A total of 824 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, an increase of 15 over than last week. 160 rigs targeted natural gas (five more than the previous week) and 662 were targeting oil in the U.S. (10 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 42 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in North Dakota.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
Bakken oil rigs were at 42 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices rising to $50.68 on Friday afternoon. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures trading at $3.19/mmbtu by midday.
McKenzie County leads production in the region with 18 rigs running this week. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 41 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 0 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 1 rigs are drilling vertical wells
Rig Count by County
Bakken Shale Rig Count by County
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.