The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by 2 to 173 rigs running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 182 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 17 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, A study done by Apartment Guidein February 2014 puts Williston, North Dakota in the top spot for highest average entry-level rent. According to the publication, a 700-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath apartment in Williston, North Dakota can cost more than $2000 per month.

Read more: Williston, ND Rent Soars Past Highest Rent Areas of U.S. to Top Spot

The U.S. rig count increased by 7 to 1,771 running over the past week. A total of 342 rigs are targeting natural gas (5 more than last week) and 1,425 are targeting oil in the U.S. (2 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).  174 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD, decreasing by two rigs 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 182 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 9 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 17 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs decreased by 2 rigs running over the past week. WTI oil prices stayed relatively flat at $102.11/bbl by the end of the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $80.19/bbl on February 20th. The WTI-Brent remain about the same from last week, settling at ~$8 by the end of the week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading around $6.13/mmbtu by the end of the 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 57 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 27 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

• 161 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
• 12 rigs are drilling directional wells
• 0 rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News

• Williston, ND Rent Soars Past Highest Rent Areas of U.S. to Top Spot
• SM Energy Completed 42 Gross Bakken Wells in 2013
• WPX Energy Sets Its Bakken Capital Budget at $580-600 Million in 2014
• Bakken Resources Sells Bakken Acreage ~$7.9 Million

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?

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.