Bakken-Three Forks Rig Count 176 - Drilling Efficiency Flat in Q4 - Jan 13, 2014

January 13, 2014 R.T. Dukes

Bakken and Three Forks Well Spuds Q4 2013

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by six to 176 running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 193 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 16 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

The North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) approved the siting permit for the Bakken Oil Express Pipeline between Killdeer and Dickinson. The pipeline is expected to replace 825 trucks per day on Highway 22. With the permit in hand, construction can begin immediately.

Read more in the article: Bakken Oil Express Pipeline Approved by the North Dakota PSC

The U.S. rig count increased by three rigs from 1,751 to 1,754 running over the past week. A total of 357 rigs are targeting natural gas (15 less than last week) and 1,393 (15 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 six 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 17 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 26 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 six to 176. WTI oil prices took a slight hit as trading resumed for the new year, dropping to just under $92/bbl by the end of the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $73.19/bbl on January 13th. The WTI-Brent opened up some from last week, settling a little under $15 this past week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading around $4/mmbtu by the end of the 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 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: 160 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 14 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 2 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?

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-Three Forks Rig Count 182 - North Dakota Public Service Commission Approves Bakken Oil Express Pipeline - Jan 6, 2014

January 6, 2014 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by two to 182 running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 186 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 26 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Read more in the article: Bakken Oil Express Pipeline Approved by the North Dakota PSC

The U.S. rig count dropped by 6 rigs from 1,757 to 1,751 running over the past week. A total of 372 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 less than last week) and 1,378 (4 less than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. 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. That's up two 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 186 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 4 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 26 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

[ic-l]The number of oil rigs running remained at 180. WTI oil prices took a slight hit as trading resumed for the new year, dropping to just under $94/bbl by the end of the week. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $74.94/bbl on Dec 20th. The WTI-Brent opened up some from last week, settling a little under $14 this past week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading around $4.30/mmbtu by the end of the 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 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: 164 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 14 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 4 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 Rig Count 180 - Abraxas Spending $54 Million in Bakken for 2014 - Dec 30, 2013

December 30, 2013 R.T. Dukes

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count held steady at 180 running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 187 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 17 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up. Abraxas Petroleum announced that it plans to spend $53.8 million in the Bakken 2014.

Abraxas also plans on running one rig in the area next year.

The U.S. rig count dropped by 11 rigs from 1,768 to 1,757 running over the past week. A total of 374 rigs are targeting natural gas (2 more than last week) and 1,382 (13 less than last week) 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 across MT, ND, and SD. That's the same as 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 187 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 17 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running remained at 180. WTI oil prices basically held flat on the week at just under $99/bbl. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $81.19/bbl on Dec 20th. The WTI-Brent tightened slightly to settle just under $12 this past week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading around $4.52/mmbtu as of last Tuesday. 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 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: 162 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 14 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 4 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 Rig Count 180 - Marathon Oil Plans $1 Billion Spending in Bakken for 2014 - Dec 23, 2013

December 23, 2013 John Kuruvilla

Marathon Oil Bakken Initial Production Improvement

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by four to 180 running over the past week. The NDIC notes around 189 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 17 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Marathon Oil plans to spend $1 billion of its $3.6 billion budget in North America in the Bakken in 2014.

As a result, the company's production is expected to grow from a little less than 40,000 boe/d in 2013 to a little less than 50,000 boe/d in 2014. Read more in the article: Marathon Oil Plans To Spend $1 Billion in the Bakken in 2014

The U.S. rig count dropped by 14 rigs from 1,782 to 1,768 running over the past week. A total of 372 rigs are targeting natural gas (3 more than last week) and 1,395 (16 less than last week) 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 across MT, ND, and SD. That's down four 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 189 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is 9 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 15 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs running decreased by four to 180. WTI oil prices basically held flat on the week at just under $99/bbl. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $80.94/bbl on Dec 5th. The WTI-Brent spread held around $14 this week.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading just under $4.50/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 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: 161 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 15 rigs are drilling directional wells, and 4 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 Rig Count 184 - ConocoPhillips Increases Bakken Spending - Dec 13, 2013

December 16, 2013 R.T. Dukes

ConocoPhillips Bakken Leashold and Mineral Acreage Map

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count jumped by 8 rigs to 184 running over the past week. The NDIC notes that 191 rigs are currently active in North Dakota, but about 17 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

ConocoPhillips` announced its 2014 budget with increased spending in the lower 48, particularly the Bakken. Conoco has a five-year plan to spend $5 billion in the Bakken and grow production to 50,000 boe/d by 2017.

Read more in the article: ConocoPhillips Increases Bakken Spending in Its 2014 Budget

The U.S. rig count increased 7 rigs from 1,775 to 1,782 running over the past week. A total of 369 rigs are targeting natural gas (6 less than last week) and 1,411 (14 more than last week) are targeting oil in the U.S. The remainder are drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).187 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. That's up eight 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 191 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 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 just under 20 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 eight to 184. WTI oil prices held basically flat on the week at $97/bbl. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $78.19/bbl on Dec 13th. The WTI-Brent shrank slightly to about $13 this week, but the Brent-Williston Sweet spread remains more than $30/bbl.

The natural gas rig count in the region held flat at zero. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading up during the week ~$4.40/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 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: 163 rigs are drilling horizontal wells, 16 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