The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by one to 173 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 189 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 15 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, the State of North Dakota has surpassed the 1-million b/d oil mark according to the North Dakota Industrial Commission’s (NDIC) Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), thanks mostly to the Bakken Shale and Three Forks formation. The preliminary data, released in the monthly Director’s Cut in June of 2014, revealed April oil production was 1,001,149 b/d. North Dakota is second only to Texas for oil production.

Read more: North Dakota Hits the 1-Million b/d Mark

The U.S. rig count increased by four to 1,858 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 311 rigs were targeting natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 1,545 were targeting oil in the U.S. (three more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 175 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 170 are in ND alone.

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 189 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 14 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 19 more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 15 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs increased  by one to 173 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices increased by ~$1 from the previous week, trading at $107.26/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $93.19/bbl on June 19th. The WTI-Brent opened up slightly, settling at ~$7 by the end of last week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading at $4.55/mmbtu by the end of last 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 63 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 23 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

• 158 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
• 15 rigs are drilling directional wells
• 0 rigs are drilling vertical wells

Bakken Oil & Gas News

• North Dakota Hits the 1-Million b/d Mark
• McKenzie County Officials Push for Temporary Housing Permits

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.