Bakken Shale Play

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U.S. Rig Fall by 29

akken Rigs

The Bakken-Three Forks rig count dropped to 65 rigs running across our coverage area by end of the week on Friday.

In recent Bakken news, low oil prices and fewer drilling rigs are being blamed for a drop in North Dakota’s general revenues that fell to $41.7 million during July and August. House Majority Leader Al Carlson framed it as a “real wake-up call.”

Read more:N.D. Revenues Drop $41.7 million

The U.S. rig count plunged by 29 this week, ending with 809 rigs running by midday Friday.  A total of 195 rigs were targeting natural gas (one more than the previous week) and 614 were targeting oil in the U.S. (26 less than the previous week). The remainder were drilling service wells (e.g. disposal wells, injection wells, etc.) 65are in ND alone.

Bakken Oil & Gas Rigs

The Bakken oil rigs were at 65 this week with Bloomberg reporting WTI oil prices trading at $45.66/bbl on Friday afternoon. WTI-Brent decreased $.35 landing to $48.25. The Bakken has zero natural active gas rig in the area this week with futures decreasing slightly to $2.47/mmbtu by midday.

McKenzie County continues to lead development with 25 rigs running this week, far outpacing other counties. View the full list below under the Bakken Drilling by County section.

Activity continues to be dominated by horizontal drilling:

  • 62 rigs are drilling horizontal wells
  • 1 rigs are drilling directional wells
  • 2 rigs are drilling vertical wells

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Bakken Drilling by County

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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