The rig count across the U.S. continues to increase as 11 more rigs were brought online this week. The Bakken-Three Forks rig count remained steady with Baker Hughes reporting 46 rigs running through our coverage area by Friday midday.
In recent Bakken News, Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. has announced that the Dakota Access Pipeline is now pumping Bakken crude oil.
Read more: Bakken Oil Now Flowing through Dakota Access Pipeline
A total of 927 oil and gas rigs were running across the United States this week, an increase of 11 over last week. 185 rigs targeted natural gas (three more than the previous week) and 741 were targeting oil in the U.S. (eight more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 46 of the rigs active in the U.S. were running in North Dakota.
Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs
Bakken oil rigs were at 46 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices dipped to $45.83 on Friday afternoon. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures trading at $3.04/mmbtu by midday.
McKenzie County leads production in the region with 22 rigs running this week. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.
Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:
- 45 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
- 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
- 0 rigs are drilling vertical wells
Rig Count by County
Bakken Shale Rig Count by countyWrite here...
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.