Bakken Operators Bring Rigs Back Online

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by one this week with Baker Hughes reporting 29 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Bakken news, Pioneer Resources report strong second quarter results including exceptional performance from their Bakken assets.

Related: PioneerWaiting for $60 Crude

A total of 479 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, and increase from last week of17. 83 were targeting natural gas (two more than the previous week) and 396 were targeting oil in the U.S. (15 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 29 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in North Dakota.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

Bakken oil rigs were at 29 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices at $44.49 on Friday afternoon. WTI-Brent ended the week a bit higher with Bloomberg reporting $46.97. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures trading at $2.60/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County leads development with 13 rigs running this week. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

  • 28 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
  • 0 rigs are drilling directional wells
  • 0 rigs are drilling vertical wells

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.

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

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