The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by ten t0 135 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week.
In recent Bakken news, Hess Corporation recently announced revisions to its 2015 capital and exploratory budget that includes a big cut in the Bakken. The company plans to reduce spending in the region by 18% from 2014 numbers, hoping to allow the company to remain flexible in the face of an extreme pricing environment.
Read more: Hess to Reduce Bakken Spending by 18%
The U.S. rig count fell another 87 to 1456 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 314 rigs were targeting natural gas (down 2 from the previous week) and 1,317 1140 were targeting oil in the U.S. (177 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).137 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 132 are in ND alone.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
The number of oil rigs decreased by ten to 135 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices increased by $3.45 from the previous week, trading at $51.69/bbl on Friday afternoon.. The WTI-Brent also saw an increase of $4.81 by week’s end, landing at $57.80. Natural gas rigs increased by one with futures trading at $2.58/mmbtu by the end of last week.
McKenzie County continues to lead development with 49 rigs running. Williams (30), Mountrail (23) and Dunn (22) counties are the only other counties with more than 2o rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 130 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 3 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 2 rigs are drilling vertical wells
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.