Bakken Shale Rig Stays Flat at 192

November 17, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count stayed flat at 192 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 184 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 Federal Aviation Administration and six other states, including Texas, home of the Eagle Ford Shale, have recently been selected as test sites for integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAV) or drones into the general population, according to the Bismarck Tribune.

With the green light from the FAA for testing in North Dakota, which for now is limited to agricultural applications, the next step could be in the Bakken oil patch.

The U.S. rig count increased by three to 1,928 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 350 rigs were targeting natural gas (six less than the previous week) and 1,578 were targeting oil in the U.S. (10 more than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).193 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 181 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 184 rigs are active in North Dakota. That figure is nine less than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, but 3 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 stayed flat at 192 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased by ~$3 from the previous week, trading at $75.97/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $59.44/bbl on Nov. 14th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just over $3.50 by the end of last week.

One natural gas rig was recorded in the region. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading at $4.06/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 61 rigs running. Mountrail, Williams and Dunn counties are the only other counties with more than 28 rigs running each. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity is dominated by horizontal drilling:

248 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
9 rigs are drilling directional wells
8 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.

Bakken Shale Rig Count Increases by One to 192

November 10, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

Magnum Hunter Resources' Bakken Acreage Map

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count increased by one to 192 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 193 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 20 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, Houston, TX-based Magnum Hunter Resources sold a large chunk of its Bakken acreage for $84.7-million to an undisclosed buyer.

The deal, which closed in mid October of this year, included non-operated working interests in ~105,661 gross (12,500 net) leasehold acres in Divide County, ND. The divested properties currently account for net average production of ~720 boe/d.

The U.S. rig count decreased by four to 1,925 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 356 rigs were targeting natural gas (ten more than the previous week) and 1,568 were targeting oil in the U.S. (14 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.).193 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 181 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 193 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is the same number Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, but 12 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 20 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 decreased by ~$1.50 from the previous week, trading at $78.95/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $59.44/bbl on Nov. 7th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just over $4.50 by the end of last week.

For the first time in several months, one natural gas rig was recorded in the region. Natural gas futures (Henry Hub) were trading at $4.46/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 61 rigs running. Mountrail, Williams and Dunn counties are the only other counties with more than 28 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
13 rigs are drilling directional wells
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?

Bakken Shale Rig Count Stays Flat at 191

November 3, 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 193 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 20 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, Dallas, TX-based Energy Transfer Partners announced a joint venture with Houston-based Phillips 66 at the end of October, 2014, to build two pipelines that will move crude oil out of North Dakota’s Bakken Shale field.

Energy Transfer Partners will have a 75% interest in the pipelines. Phillips 66 will have a 25% interest, and will pay a proportionate cost of the construction. Both the “Dakota Access Pipeline” and “Energy Transfer Crude Oil Pipeline” are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.

The U.S. rig count increased by two to 1,929 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 346 rigs were targeting natural gas (fourteen more than the previous week) and 1,582 were targeting oil in the U.S. (13 less 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. 180 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 193 rigs are active in North Dakota. That is one more than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and 13 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 20 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 decreased by ~$.60 from the previous week, trading at $80.58/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $62.69bbl on Oct. 31st. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just over $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 at $3.88/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, Williams and Dunn 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:

174 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
13 rigs are drilling directional wells
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 Shale Rig Count Decreases by One to 192

October 20, 2014 Kirk Eggleston

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count decreased by one to 192 rigs running across our coverage area by the end of last week. The NDIC notes 190 rigs are active in North Dakota, but around 13 of those are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

In recent Bakken news, The Bakken Shale is expected to produce 1.193-million b/d of oil in November, up 22% from the same time last year, according to theEnergy Information Administration’s (EIA) Drilling Productivity Report. October’s total production from the play is expected to be 1.164-million b/d.

The U.S. rig count decreased by 12 to 1,918 rigs running by the end of last week. A total of 328 rigs were targeting natural gas (eight more than the previous week) and 1,590 were targeting oil in the U.S. (19 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.). 193 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 181 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 three less than Baker Hughes reports in the Bakken area, and nine less 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 13 rigs are in the process of moving in and rigging up.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs decreased by one to 192 rigs running by the end of the week . WTI oil prices decreased by less than $1.00 from the previous week, trading at $83.15/bbl on Friday afternoon. Williston Basin Sweet crude traded at $64.44/bbl on Oct. 16th. The WTI-Brent closed up a bit, settling at just over $3 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 $3.77/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. 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:

173 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
16 rigs are drilling directional wells
3 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 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

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