Rig count in North Dakota, April to July

(Photo of drilling rig on North Dakota plains that will bring us half a million barrels of oil by James Ulvog.)

The falling rig count in Bakken is getting lots of attention. The importance of the number of rigs has dropped a lot in the last few years as the drillers created increasing efficiencies. The importance of the drop in rig count is less significant than it seems since the best crews are working with the best locations, which means the productivity of each of the current 70+ working rigs is far higher than the 190 in the field a year ago.

Here is a recap of the North Dakota rig count as I’ve been tracking it. All data from Million Dollar Way:

• 93 – 4/17
• 90 – 4/21
• 84 – 4/25
• 87 – 4/29
• 86 – 5/1
• 82 – 5/22
• 84 – 5/26
• 82 – 6/5
• 77 – 6/11– breaking through the 80 level
• 79 – 6/17
• 75 – 6/22
• 75 – 6/26
• 73 – 7/9
• 73 – 7/13
• 71 – 7/20