Bakken Shale Play

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Bakken Rig Count Remains Flat

New Regulations For Fracking on Public Lands

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count remained flat at 97 rigs running across our coverage area by midday Friday.

In recent Bakken news, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized new rules on that will regulate hydraulic oil and gas fracturing on public and tribal lands. The ruling could potentially impact more than 90,000 oil and gas wells and set a precedent for future regulations.

Read more: New Fracking Rules for Public Lands

The U.S. rig count fell another 21 to 1048 rigs running as of today. A total of 233 rigs were targeting natural gas (down nine from the previous week) and 814 were targeting oil in the U.S. (41 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.)97 rigs are running in the Williston Basin across MT, ND, and SD. 96 are in ND alone.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The number of oil rigs stayed remained at 97 rigs running by midday. WTI oil prices increased $4.33 from the previous week, trading at $50.05/bbl on Friday afternoon. The WTI-Brent saw an increase of $2.57 by week’s end, landing at $57.70. There are currently no natural active gas rigs in the area and futures are trading at $2.61/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County continues to lead development but dropped to 41 running rigs. Williams (19) and Mountrail (18) counties are the next closest producers. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

  • 96 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
  • 0 rigs are drilling directional wells
  • 1 rigs are drilling vertical wells

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Bakken Drilling by County

 

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

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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.

Read more at bakerhughes.com