Bakken Shale Rig Count Decreases by Four to 193

October 13, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by four to 193 rigs running across our coverage area 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 Bakken news, Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY) appears to be on the verge of divesting its acreage in the Williston Basin, according to a Bloomberg report, which cited “people with knowledge of the matter.”

Currently, OXY has ~500,000 gross acres (~335,000 net) in the Williston Basin, and is working with investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. to sell the assets.

The U.S. rig count increased by eight to 1,930 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 320 rigs were targeting natural gas (ten less than the previous week) and 1,609 were targeting oil in the U.S. (18 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 194 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 182 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 190 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is four less than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and eight more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 decreased by four to 193 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased by nearly $5 from the previous week, trading at $84.72/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $67.44/bbl on Oct. 2nd. The WTI-Brent opened up a bit, settling at just over $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 at $3.86/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. Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 30 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

172 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
16 rigs are drilling directional wells
5 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.

Bakken Shale Rig Count Stays Flat at 197

September 29, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count stayed flat at 197 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 190 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around ten of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, crude oil production in North Dakota’s section of the Bakken Shale averaged nearly 1.2 million b/d in August, according to consultancy Bentek Energy, a unit of Platts. That’s a 227,000 b/d increase over August 2013.

Combined oil production from the Bakken and South Texas’ Eagle Ford Shale rose by more than 78,000 b/d in August 2014. That’s a 3.1% increase over July.

The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1,931 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 338 rigs were targeting natural gas (nine more than the previous week) and 1,592 were targeting oil in the U.S. (9 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 198 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 189 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 190 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is eight more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and one more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 ten rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs stayed flat at 197 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices were up slightly from the previous week, trading at $93.47/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $74.19/bbl on Sept. 26th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just under $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 at $3.99/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 66 rigs running. Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 30 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

178 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
19 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

Bakken Drilling by County

What is the Rig Count?

Bakken Shale Rig Count Increases by Four to 197

September 22, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by four to 197 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 196 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around eight of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, the oil & gas renaissance in the U.S. has nearly catapulted the country to the top spot for oil production in the world, and most experts believe the U.S. will hit this target by next year. But is it possible that the country and the Bakken has too much of a good thing? When it comes to natural gas that may be the case.

According to the BP 2014 statistical world energy review, the U.S. is currently the top natural gas producing country in the world at 328 Bcf/d. Over the past five years, natural gas production has grown over 20% in the U.S., thanks in large part to the shale revolution. But the price of natural gas has struggled to break $4/mmbtu, and oil companies in North Dakota’s and Montana’s Bakken Shale and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas have flared much of their produced natural gas in favor of capturing oil, which is a much higher valued commodity.

The U.S. rig count stayed flat at 1,931 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 329 rigs were targeting natural gas (nine less than the previous week) and 1,601 were targeting oil in the U.S. (9 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 198 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 189 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 196 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is two more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and seven more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 eight rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs increased by four to 197 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased slightly from the previous week, trading at $92.48/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $74.19/bbl on Sept. 19th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just under $6 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 $3.84/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 66 rigs running. Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 30 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

178 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
19 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

Bakken Drilling by County

What is the Rig Count?

Bakken Shale Rig Count Increases by Two to 193

September 15, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

Continental Resources Bakken Three Forks Map

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by two to 193 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 199 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 14 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, the Bakken’s second largest producer, Continental Resources, Inc., announced last week that President and COO W.F. “Rick” Bott, 54, has resigned to “pursue other opportunities.”

According to company officials, his duties will be absorbed by senior management. Bott joined Continental in 2012, and worked previously at Cairn India Ltd and in Devon Energy Corp’s international division.

The U.S. rig count increased by six to 1,931 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 338 rigs were targeting natural gas (two more than the previous week) and 1,592 were targeting oil in the U.S. (8 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 194 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 185 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 199 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is five more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 14 more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 14 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs increased by two to 193 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased slightly from the previous week, trading at $92.34/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $73.94/bbl on Aug. 29th. The WTI-Brent opened up a bit, settling at just under $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 $3.94/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 66 rigs running. Mountrail, and Williams counties are the only other counties with more than 30 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

177 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
16 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

Bakken Drilling by County

What is the Rig Count?

Bakken Shale Rig Count Stays Flat at 191

September 9, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count stayed flat at 191 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 198 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, Pembina Pipeline Corp. announced in early Sept. 2014 it will acquire Bakken midstream assets for $650-million from entities affiliated with Riverstone Holdings, LLC.

The U.S. rig count increased by 11 to 1,925 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 340 rigs were targeting natural gas (two more than the previous week) and 1,584 were targeting oil in the U.S. (nine more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 192 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 183 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 198 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is six more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 15 more than the company reports in North Dakota. 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 stayed flat at 191 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices stayed relatively flat from the previous week, trading at $93.25/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $79.94/bbl on Aug. 29th. The WTI-Brent opened up a bit, settling at just under $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 $3.98/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 66 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:

175 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
16 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