The Bakken-Three Forks rig count stayed flat at 175 rigs running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 185 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 12 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, Continental Resource's Bakken and Three Forks position contributed 741 million boe to the company’s proved reserves at an estimated value of $14.5 billion at the end of 2013. Continental is one of the largest operators in the Bakken Shale.

Read more: Continental's Proved Reserves in Bakken Valued at $14.5 Billion - 2013

The U.S. rig count decreased by 7 to 1,764 running over the past week. A total of 337 rigs are targeting natural gas (14 less than last week) and 1,423 are targeting oil in the U.S. (7 less than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 176 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD, decreasing by one rig 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 185 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 10 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 12 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs stayed flat at 175 rigs running over the past week. WTI oil prices stayed relatively flat at $100.26/bbl by the end of the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $82.19/bbl on February 13th. 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 $5.24/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 58 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:

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

Bakken Oil & Gas News

• Continental's Proved Reserves in Bakken Valued at $14.5 Billion - 2013
• Kodiak Oil & Gas 2013 Bakken Sales Volumes Up 103% in 2013 from 2012
• QEP Resources South Antelope Bakken Properties Valued at $2.8 Billion at Year-End 2013
• Hess, Marathon, and Whiting Face Fines for Bakken Oil Classifications

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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.