Bakken Rig Count Flat at 181 for the Third Week - Bakken Production Might Double

October 7, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count held flat at 181 rigs running over the past week. This marks the third week the rig count has held flat at 181 rigs.

Not all rigs counted in our census are drilling for the Bakken, but it's close. The NDIC estimates 95% of activity in this region targets the Bakken and Three Forks formations.

The director over at the NDIC made an interesting prediction last week. Lynn Helms believes Bakken Production Will Double by 2017. If the milestone is hit, North Dakota will be producing over 1.6 million b/d.

The U.S. rig count increased 12 rigs from 1,744 to 1,756 running over the past week. A total of 378 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 more than last week) and 1,372 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 183 rigs are running in the Williston Basin.

Note: The NDIC reports 182 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 12 more than Baker Hughes reports. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working and rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes. 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 more than 10 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running held flat at 181 in the region. WTI oil prices were trading near $103/bbl on Friday. The commodity has held above $100/bbl for 13 weeks now. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $88.44/bbl on Oct 4th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.60/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 63 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling: 159 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 rigs are drilling directional wells, and six rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

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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.

Bakken Rig Count Up To 181 - New Production Records Sept 20, 2013

September 20, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count increased by two rigs to 181 running. The increase reverses two months of either seeing no change or the loss of rigs. The Williston Basin rig count increased by three to reach 184 rigs running.

The biggest announcement of the week came from the NDIC who published July production figures. Bakken-Three Forks production drove the state of North Dakota to a new record of almost 875,000 b/d. Statewide production grew by almost 53,000 b/d (record) and the Bakken now produces over 800,000 b/d.

Read more in the article Largest Monthly Bakken Oil Production Increase Ever

The U.S. rig count fell seven rigs from 1,768 to 1,761 running this past week. A total of 386 rigs are targeting natural gas (15 less than last week) and 1,369 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 184 rigs are running in the Williston Basin

Note: The NDIC reports 185 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 16 more than Baker Hughes reports. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working and rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes. 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 more than 10 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running increased by two units to 181 in the region. WTI oil prices fell further during the week and oil was trading near $105/bbl on Friday. The commodity has held above $100/bbl for 11 weeks now. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $92.44/bbl on Sept 20th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.70/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near$3/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 65 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling: 159 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 15 rigs are drilling directional wells, and seven rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

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?

Bakken Rig Count Down To 179 - ND Production Up To 875,000 b/d - Sept 13, 2013

September 13, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Continental Resources Bakken Three Forks Map

The Bakken rig count fell one rig to 179 rigs running in the area. The Williston Basin rig count fell one as well to settle at 181 rigs running.

News this week was highlighted by Continental's plans to spend $2.5 billion in the Bakken in 2014 and the NDIC's report that oil production in North Dakota jumped over 50,000 b/d to 874,476 b/d in July. Natural gas production is approaching 1 Bcf/d with 970 mmcfd reported in July.

The U.S. rig count increased 1 rig to 1,768 running this past week. A total of 401 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,361 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). This week marks the first time the natural gas rig count has been above 400 since March. 181 rigs are running in the Williston Basin.

Note: The NDIC reports 180 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 13 more than Baker Hughes reports. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working and rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes. 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 more than 10 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running fell one to 179 in the region. WTI oil prices fell a few dollars on news of Syria potentially turning over chemical weapons to the UN. Oil was trading near $108/bbl on Friday and has held above $100/bbl for ten weeks. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $96.19/bbl on Sept 12th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.70/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading below $3/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 64 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling: 156 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 15 rigs are drilling directional wells, and eight rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

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?

Bakken Rig Count 180 Four Weeks Straight - Aug 30, 2013

August 30, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Whiting Petroleum Bakken Acquisition Acreage Map - August 2013

The Bakken rig count held flat at 180 rigs running for the fourth week. The rig count didn't change much during August. We started the month with 179 rigs running and held flat at 180 the rest of the month.

The U.S. rig count was flat at 1,776, but several rigs moved from drilling natural gas to oil. A total of 380 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,388 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 182 rigs are running in the Williston Basin.

Whiting Petroleum's $260 million acquisition of a little more than 17,000 net acres in North Dakota and Montana dominated headlines. The company has now assembled almost 715,000 net acres at a cost of $643 million ($900/acre). Read the full story in the article Whiting Acquires Bakken Acreage In Montana & North Dakota

Note: The NDIC reports 185 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 15 more than Baker Hughes reports. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working and rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes. 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 more than 10 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running held flat at 180 in the region. WTI prices were trading near $108/bbl and the benchmark has been above $100 for eight weeks running. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $95.19/bbl on August 30th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.60/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading below $3/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 64 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

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?

Bakken Regional Rig Count At 180 For Third Week - August 23, 2013

August 26, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count held flat at 180 rigs running in the region for the third week. The average rig count so far in 2013 has been just over 186 rigs running.

The U.S. rig count was down 15 to 1,786, of which 182 are running in the Williston Basin. A total of 387 rigs are targeting natural gas and 1,382 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).

News last week was highlighted by Enbridge completing $600 million in investments and bringing the Berthold Rail Facility and the company's latest pipeline expansion online. The company now has the capacity to move 415,000 b/d out of the Williston Basin.

Note: The NDIC reports 185 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 16 more than Baker Hughes reports. The difference is likely accounted for in the number of rigs actually working and rigs that might not be serviced by Baker Hughes. 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 20 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running held flat at 180 in the region. WTI prices were trading near $106/bbl and the benchmark has been above $100 for seven weeks running. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $94.19/bbl on August 23rd.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.50/mmbtu. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading below $3/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas.

McKenzie County led development with 65 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 20 rigs running. View the full list below.

Bakken Oil & Gas News:

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