Rig Utililization in the Bakken -- North Dakota, USA,

There is an interesting graphic in Whiting's recent corporate presentation.

I noted some time ago that for all the rigs CLR has in the Williston Basin, it seems other drillers are completing wells at a similar rate despite having fewer rigs. It was just a "feeling."

Look at slide 26 of Whiting's most recent corporate presentation (June, 2011), in which Whiting lists about 35 drillers working in the Bakken, number of wells drilled, and six-month total production (MBOE 10); these are wells drilled since January, 2009 (I may be misreading the slide, but this is what is seems to say.) (The number of rigs is my estimate over time; subject to correction)(a select few):

• WLL: 15 rigs; 72 wells drilled; 7,221 mboe 10 -- 6 months total production; 100k/well
• EOG: 8 rigs (varies; bought AEZ); 119 wells drilled; 7,134 mboe 10; 60k/well
• CLR: 22 rigs; 69 wells drilled; 4,145 mboe 10; 60k/well
  
• BEXP: 6 rigs; 20 wells drilled; 1,628 mboe 10; 81k/well
• BR: x rigs; 44 wells drilled; 2,847 mboe 10; 65k/well
• Slawson: x rigs; 35 wells drilled; 2,613 mboe 10; 75k/well 
• MRO: x rigs; 60 wells drilled; 2,187 mboe 10; 36k/well
• XTO: x rigs; 49 wells drilled; 1,950 mboe 10; 40k/well
• KOG: 2 rigs; 10 wells drilled; 571 mboe 10; 57k/well
• Hess: x rigs; 43 wells drilled; 2,148 mboe 10; 50k/well

MRO and XTO stand out. 

It's possible that one rig/Eco-Pad, and the delay in completing the fourth well, is skewing CLR's results.

WLL's impressive 6-month production results are due to the impressive wells it has in the Sanish, and the way WLL is executing its Bakken strategy: at least one Sanish well for every other well it drills.

The graphic on that page lists the drillers in order of average production/well over the last six months:

• WLL: 100k/well
• Murex: 89k/well
• BEXP: 81k/well
• Hunt: 79k/well
• Slawson: 75k/well
• American: 72k/well
• Questar: 71k/well
• SHD: 68k/well
• Zavanna: 65k/well
• BR: 65k/well
• Petro-Hunt: 62k/well
• CLR: 60k/well
• EOG: 60k/well
• Fidelity (MDU): 57k/well
• KOG: 57k/well
• Anschutz (OXY): 57k/well
• SM: 54k/well
• Newfield: 53k/well
• Zenergy: 51k/well
• Hess: 50k/well
• Tracker (Hess): 49k/well
• Oasis: 46k/well
• Peak: 46k/well
• Encore (Denbury): 45k/well
• Sinclair: 44k/well
• XTO: 40k/well
• Lario: 40k/well
• MRO: 36k/well
• Baytex: 32k/well
• Cirque: 30k/well
• Samson Resources: 29k/well
• PDC: 27k/well
• Panther: 21k/well
• Sagebrush: 16k/well

Again, XTO and MRO stand out. One can argue that WLL is an outlier due to its "sweet spot" in the Sanish, but it's hard to defend XTO and MRO. Even companies like Newfield in the Bakken are somewhat disappointing when one looks at this data.

Hopefully, WLL updates this data a year from now.