The Bakken-Three Forks rig count remained at 71 rigs running across our coverage area by end of the week on Friday.
In recent Bakken news, Bentek Energy reported a slight increase in oil production for North Dakota in July, saying that the Bakken formation follows closely behind the Eagle Ford Basin in terms of efficiency gains and internal rates of return. Drill times in the Bakken dropped from about 15 days per well in late 2014 to about 13 days per well during the second quarter of this year.
Read more: Bakken Oil Production Up Slightly
The U.S. rig count decreased by eight, ending with 877 rigs running by midday Friday. A total of 202 rigs were targeting natural gas (nine less than the previous week) and 675 were targeting oil in the U.S. (one more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)72 are in ND alone.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
The Bakken oil rigs were at 71 rigs this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices trading at $44.99/bbl on Friday afternoon, a $4.54 increase from the previous week. WTI-Brent increased $4.56 landing to $50.02. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures increasing slightly to $2.71/mmbtu by midday.
McKenzie County continues to lead development though falling to 22 rigs this week, while Williams (14) and Dunn (13) followed behind. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 68 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 2 rigs are drilling vertical wells
Bakken Drilling by County
Bakken Oil & Gas News
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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