Bakken-Three Forks rig count is unmoved this week up, with Baker Hughes reporting 54 rigs running through our coverage area by Friday midday.
In recent Bakke Shale news, North Dakota is in a hot dispute with oil and gas companies and industry leaders over improper deductions on royalties owed to the state.
North Dakota Owed Millions in Royalties
A total of 958 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, eight more than last week. 192 rigs targeted natural gas (six more than the previous week) and 766 were targeting oil in the U.S. (two more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 54 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in North Dakota.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
Bakken oil rigs were at 54 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices at $49.71 on Friday afternoon. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures trading at $2.94/mmbtu by midday.
McKenzie County leads production in the region with 19 rigs running this week. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 53 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 0 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.