The Bakken rig count held flat at 180 rigs running over the past week.

During the week, the EIA released its first "Drilling Productivity Report". The report outlines well productivity and play production for future months. The EIA estimates the average rig running in the Bakken region adds 500 b/d per month of production. For reference, that's 100 barrels more than a rig in the Eagle Ford.

Read the full article: Rigs in the Bakken Add Almost 500 Barrels of Oil Production Per Month

The U.S. rig count decreased 1 rig from 1,739 to 1,738 running over the past week. A total of 376 rigs are targeting natural gas (4 more than last week) and 1,357 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).182 rigs are running in the Williston Basin.

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

Note: The NDIC reports 182 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 12 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 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 more than 10 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running held flat at 180. WTI oil prices were trading near $98/bbl to end the week. The commodity held above $100/bbl for 15 weeks, but traded to its lowest point in four months on Friday. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $82.44/bbl on Oct 25th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.70/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3.30/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 59 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling: 156 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 20 rigs are drilling directional wells, and four rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

• Bakken Production Added Per Rig
• Mineral Owners Sue Over Bakken Flaring
• Tesoro Launches Oil Spill Website

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Bakken Drilling 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 and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.