Bakken-Three Forks Rig Count 176 - Oasis Petroleum Expanding - Dec 6, 2013

December 6, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Oasis Petroleum Bakken Acreage Map - Acquisition Included

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by one rig to 176 running over the past week. The NDIC notes more than 190 rigs are active in North Dakota, but more than 20 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In the company's third quarter earnings release, Oasis Petroleum detailed acquisitions that bring its acreage holdings up to almost 500,000 net acres. The deals were just a few of many highlights from the company's earnings release.

Oasis added two rigs, believes it has a drilling inventory of more than 3,000 wells, and has driven well costs below $7.5 million. Read more in the article: Oasis Petroleum Nearing Half a Million Acres in the Bakken

The U.S. rig count increased 12 rigs from 1,763 to 1,775 running over the past week. A total of 375 rigs are targeting natural gas (8 more than last week) and 1,397 (6 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 179 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. That's down one from last week.

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 193 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 27 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 more than 20 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The number of oil rigs running decreased by one to 176. WTI oil prices were up ~5% and trading above $97/bbl at the end of the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $78.94/bbl on Dec 5th. The WTI-Brent spread held at about $14 this week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading over $4/mmbtu on Friday. 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 61 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: 154 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 17 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 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 and/or Smith Service Co's (Schlumberger) Smith Rig Count.

Bakken Regional Rig Count 177 - Enbridge's Sandpiper Pipeline Gains Anchor Shipper - Thanksgiving Week

December 2, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count increased by one rig to 177 running during Thanksgiving week.

News was highlighted by an agreement between Enbridge Partners and Marathon Petroleum which will install Marathon as the anchor shipper and partner in Enbridge's upcoming Sandpiper Pipeline.

The U.S. rig count increased two rigs from 1,761 to 1,763 running over Thanksgiving week. A total of 367 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 less than last week) and 1,391 (4 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).180 (up 1 from last week) 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 187 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 25 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

[ic-l]The number of oil rigs running increased by one to 177. WTI oil prices were trading near $93/bbl to end the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $74.44/bbl as of Nov 29th. The WTI-Brent spread continues to widen, reaching approximately $17.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.85/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading closer to $3.00/mmbtu. 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 61 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: 155 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 17 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 5 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 Regional Rig Count 174 - Continental Hits Record Production - Nov 15, 2013

November 15, 2013 R.T. Dukes

Continental Resources Bakken - Antelope Area Map

The Bakken rig count increased by one to 174 rigs running over the past week.

Continental Resources reported earnings and announced a record with third quarter production of 141,900 boe/d. Almost 95,000 boe/d is attributable to the Bakken and Three Forks. Their Hawkinson density test yielded almost 15,000 boe/d from a single pad.

The U.S. rig count increased 8 rigs from 1,754 to 1,762 running over the past week. A total of 370 rigs are targeting natural gas (5 more than last week) and 1,385 (2 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 177 (up 2 from last week) 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 183 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 19 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 174. WTI oil prices were trading near $94/bbl to end the week - trading at virtually the same level as last week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $75.44/bbl as of Nov 14th. The WTI-Brent spread continues to widen, widening to over $15 as of Nov 18, which should continue to spur the growth of crude by rail.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.64/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3.00/mmbtu. A little more than 10% of the production stream from the Bakken and Three Forks is attributable to natural gas

McKenzie County continues to lead development with 60 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: 154 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 13 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 7 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 173 - Operators Seeing Improvements - Nov 8, 2013

November 8, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count held flat at 173 rigs running over the past week. We'll reiterate what was written last week: More wells are being drilled at today's rig count than at any point in the history of Bakken development.

Several operators reported earnings this week and all had an operational improvement to share. EOG plans to use self-sourced sand to save costs, Marathon is drilling faster than ever, and Halcon's Bakken IP rates improved with a new higher fluid and sand volume completion.

The U.S. rig count increased 12 rigs from 1,742 to 1,754 running over the past week. A total of 365 rigs are targeting natural gas (5 more than last week) and 1,383 (7 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).175 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 20 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 173. WTI oil prices were trading near $95/bbl to end the week - trading at virtually the same level as last week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $76.19/bbl on Nov 8th. Keep an eye on the WTI to Brent spread. It's more than $11 for the second week in a row. That's more than enough to create demand to move crude by rail.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.55/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3.00/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 57 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: 153 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 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?

173 Rigs Running in the Bakken Region - Hess Sees Better Production and Costs

November 1, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken rig count fell seven to 173 rigs running over the past week. This marks the lowest rig count in the region in more than two years, but there's no need for alarm. Rigs are drilling as much as 30% faster than they were at this time a couple of years ago and the rig count is less than 25% off it's all time high of 220+ rigs in 2012. In reality, more wells are being drilled at today's rig count than at any point in the history of Bakken development.

Hess reported positive results in the Bakken. The company's third quarter production is up 14% and well costs are down 18%. That's a win-win for any operator. Hess is now producing more than 70,000 boe/d from the Williston Basin.

Read more in the article Hess' Bakken Production Grows and Costs Fall

The U.S. rig count increased 4 rigs from 1,738 to 1,742 running over the past week. A total of 360 rigs are targeting natural gas (16 less than last week) and 1,376 (19 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 175 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 180 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 18 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 to 173. WTI oil prices were trading near $95/bbl to end the week. The commodity held above $100/bbl for 15 weeks, but has been falling for a little over two weeks. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $81.19/bbl on Oct 31st. Watch the WTI to Brent spread. It's more than $11 today, which is enough to create demand for more oil to move by rail to the coasts.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading near $3.50/mmbtu on Friday. Natural gas delivered to the Northern Border pipeline in Watford City is trading near $3.00/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 57 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: 153 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 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