Bakken Shale Rig Count Decreases by One to 181

May 12, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by one to 181 rigs running by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 191 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 11 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent news, Halcón Resources (HK) set new company production and operations records in the Williston Basin during the first quarter of 2014. The company realized a record breaking initial production (IP) rate for a Fort Berthold well and logged two of its fastest drilling times from spud to total depth in the same operations area.

The U.S. rig count increased by 1 to 1,855 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 323 rigs were targeting natural gas (flat from the previous week) and 1,528 were targeting oil in the U.S. (1 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).182 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 174 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 191 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 11 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 17 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 11 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs decreased by one to 181 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices increased slightly to $100.03/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $86.69/bbl on May 9th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, 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$4.53/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 64 rigs running. Dunn, Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 22 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

167 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
13 rigs are drilling directional wells
1 rig is drilling a vertical well

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 Shale Rig Count Decreases by Four to 182

May 5, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by four to 182 rigs running by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 187 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 13 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent news, Continental Resources, a major Bakken producer, revealed the Bakken field of North Dakota and Montana reached the milestone of 1 billion bbls of cumulative light, sweet crude oil produced during first quarter of 2014. Two-thirds of the total was produced in the last three years according to Continental. The company cited IHS data in making this announcement.

The U.S. rig count decreased by 7 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 323 rigs were targeting natural gas (flat from the previous week) and 1,527 were targeting oil in the U.S. (7 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 183 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 176 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 187 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 11 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area. 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 13 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs decreased by four to 182 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased to $99.65/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $86.44/bbl on May 2nd. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at ~$8 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$4.71/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 67 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:

169 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
12 rigs are drilling directional wells
1 rig is drilling a vertical well

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 Shale Rig Count Increases by Three to 186

April 28, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by three to 186 rigs running by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 182 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 18 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent news, North Dakota will begin enforcing new regulations to combat the illegal disposal of radioactive waste beginning on June 1st, 2014, . Leak proof containers will now be required at injection well-sites to store "oil socks", which are used to filter silt from waste water that is yielded from hydraulic fracking. The oil socks accumulate radium from the soil, rock and water present in the waste water.

The U.S. rig count increased by 30 to 1,861 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 323 rigs were targeting natural gas (7 more than the previous week) and 1,534 were targeting oil in the U.S. (24 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 187 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 179 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 182 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 3 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area. 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 18 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs increased by three last week to 186 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased to $100.56/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $88.69/bbl on April 17th. The WTI-Brent opened up a bit, settling at ~$9 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$4.65/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 25 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

169 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
16 rigs are drilling directional wells
1 rig is drilling a vertical well

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 Shale Rig Count Stays Flat at 183

April 21, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count remained flat at 183 rigs running by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 185 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 16 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent news, the number of producing wells in North Dakota reached an all-time record high of 10,186 in February 2014. The information was released in the North Dakota Industrial Commission's (NDIC) Director's Cut for Aril 2014. The number of producing wells in North Dakota has risen month over month since the beginning of the year.

The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1831 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 316 rigs were targeting natural gas (6 more than the previous week) and 1,510 were targeting oil in the U.S. (7 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 185 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 178 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 185 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 7 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area. 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 16 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs stayed flat last week . WTI oil prices increased slightly to $104.35/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $90.94/bbl on April 17th. The WTI-Brent opened up a bit, settling at ~$5 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$4.76/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 62 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:

168 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
15 rigs are drilling directional wells
0 rigs are drilling vertical wells.

Bakken Oil & Gas News

Bakken Production Sets Another Record for Producing Wells - February 2014

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 - 183 - U.S. Senators Ask for Railway Safety Funding

April 14, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count remained flat at 183 rigs running by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 190 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 18 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent news, U.S. Senators appealed to the Senate Appropriations Committee last week for railway safety funding. The requests come on the heels of several incidences, including a December 2013 train collision and derailment in Casselton, ND, that spilled ~950 bbls of Bakken crude oil.

The U.S. rig count increased by 13 to 1831 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 310 rigs are targeting natural gas (6 less than last week) and 1,517 are targeting oil in the U.S. (19 more than last week). The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 185 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD.

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 190 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 12 more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area. 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 18 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs stayed flat last week . WTI oil prices increased to $103.52/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $90.44/bbl on April 11th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at ~$4 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$4.62/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 62 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:

168 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
15 rigs are drilling directional wells
0 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