The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased sharply over the past month, ending last week with a total of 163 rigs across our coverage area. This represents a drop of seven from last week and a startling 17 from only one month ago, according to the weekly report from Baker Hughes.

WTI crude prices have decreased by ~$9.59 since December 19th, trading at $55.99/bbl on Monday morning. As oil prices continue to drop, reports of deeper budget cuts and layoffs are now daily news.

Related: Energy Giants Announce Layoffs

Related: Halcón Resources Reduces 2015 Budget

The Bakken isn’t the only region to see a decline. The U.S. rig count decreased to 1,676 rigs running by the end of last week with a total of 310 rigs targeting natural gas (down 28 from December) and 1,366 targeting oil in the U.S. (down 170 since December). 165 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 156 are in ND alone.

Bakken Drilling by County

Activity in the Bakken continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

• 152 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
• 8 rigs are drilling directional wells
• 3 rigs are drilling vertical wells

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.

Read more at BakerHughes.com