The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased to 63 rigs running across our coverage area by end of the week on Friday.
In recent Bakken news, more energy companies are exiting the region as they struggle to adapt to the prolonged low oil prices.
Bakken Bankruptcies on the Rise
A total of 771 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week. 199 were targeting natural gas (two more than the previous week) and 572were targeting oil in the U.S. (five less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 63are in ND alone.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
The Bakken oil rigs were at 63 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices trading at $44.29/bbl on Friday afternoon. WTI-Brent decreased $1.98landing at $47.42. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures increasing slightly to $2.37/mmbtu by midday.
McKenzie County continues to lead development with 26 rigs running this week, far outpacing other counties. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 61 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 1 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