Bakken Region Rig Count 180 - Average Rig Adds 500 bbls Per Month - Oct 25, 2013

October 26, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count held flat at 180 rigs running over the past week.

During the week, the EIA released its first "Drilling Productivity Report". The report outlines well productivity and play production for future months. The EIA estimates the average rig running in the Bakken region adds 500 b/d per month of production. For reference, that's 100 barrels more than a rig in the Eagle Ford.

Read the full article: Rigs in the Bakken Add Almost 500 Barrels of Oil Production Per Month

The U.S. rig count decreased 1 rig from 1,739 to 1,738 running over the past week. A total of 376 rigs are targeting natural gas (4 more than last week) and 1,357 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.

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.

Note: The NDIC reports 182 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 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 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. WTI oil prices were trading near $98/bbl to end the week. The commodity held above $100/bbl for 15 weeks, but traded to its lowest point in four months on Friday. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $82.44/bbl on Oct 25th.

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 $3.30/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 59 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, 20 rigs are drilling directional wells, and four 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 Regional Rig Count 180 - Record Williston Basin Well Spuds - Oct 18, 2013

October 18, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count increased by one to settle at 180 rigs running over the past week.

Even though the rig count is off its highs, the Williston Basin set a record for quarterly well starts in the third quarter. Baker Hughes released its most recent data and almost 750 wells were spud during the quarter. That's up from fewer than 700 in the second quarter.

Read the full story: Bakken & Three Forks Well Spuds Set Record in the Williston

The U.S. rig count decreased four rigs from 1,743 to 1,739 running over the past week. A total of 372 rigs are targeting natural gas (3 more than last week) and 1,361 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.

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.

Note: The NDIC reports 184 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 14 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 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 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 one to 180 in the region. WTI oil prices were trading near $101/bbl on Friday. The commodity has held above $100/bbl for 15 weeks. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $85.44/bbl on Oct 17th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.77/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3.30/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 59 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, 20 rigs are drilling directional wells, and four 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 & Three Forks Well Spuds Set Record in the Williston Basin

October 14, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Bakken and Three Forks well spuds hit a new high in the third quarter. Baker Hughes reported 747 well starts in the Williston Basin over the past three months.

The Williston Basin accounted for 747 or more than 8% of the 9,175 wells that were spud in the U.S. in the third quarter. The number of wells spud beats the previous record of 693 set in the second quarter and is almost 50% higher than the number of wells started in the first quarter of 2012.

That's right. The number of wells started per quarter is up almost 50% over the past 18 months, while the rig count has fallen a little more than 10%. An average of 206 rigs were working in the first quarter of 2012 compared to 183 in the third quarter of 2013. Experience and pad drilling continue to drive development times down.

The average rig working in the basin drilled 4.08 wells during the quarter or spent a little more than 22 days from spud to spud. That's up from 2.46 wells per rig or more than 36 days from spud to spud in the first quarter of 2012

Not every well in the basin targets the Bakken and Three Forks, but we estimate the plays account for more than 95% of the activity in the Williston Basin.

Bakken Regional Rig Count 179 - Major Midstream Deal - Oct 11, 2013

October 11, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count decreased by two to settle at 179 running over the past week. The biggest announcement of the week was the $750 million acquisition of Arrow Midstream by Crestwood Midstream. The combination of the two companies creates one of the largest midstream companies in the region.

Read more about the deal in the article: Crestwood Midstream Acquires Arrow Midstream for $750 Million

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 U.S. rig count decrease 13 rigs from 1,756 to 1,743 running over the past week. A total of 369 rigs are targeting natural gas (9 less than last week) and 1,367 are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 181 rigs are running in the Williston Basin.

Note: The NDIC reports 184 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 15 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 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 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 two to 179 in the region. WTI oil prices were trading near $102/bbl on Friday. The commodity has held above $100/bbl for 14 weeks now. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $87.69/bbl on Oct 10th.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.78/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 62 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: 158 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 rigs are drilling directional wells, and five 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 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:

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