Active Rigs in North Dakota

There are a record 125 active rigs in North Dakota this week. Below is the number of active rigs by operator. The "up/down" comparison compares to number of rigs on May 24, 2010.

In October, 2009, there were only 56 active rigs in North Dakota.

June 12, 2010: 

WLL: 11 (down 1)  
EOG: 13 (down 1) 
CLR: 18 (up 1)    
BEXP: 5 (same)    
Slawson: 7 (up 2)
BR: 3 (same)
Marathon: 5 (same)
Hess: 7 (up 1)
Newfield: 3 (down 1)
St Mary Land: 2 (same)      
Petro-Hunt: 5 (up 1)    
Encore: 3 (up 1)  
XTO: 4 (same)    
Anschutz: 5 (up 1)
Cirque: 0 (same)
Zenergy: 3 (up 2)
Tracker: 3 (up 1)
Zavanna: 1 (same)
Kodiak: 2 (up 1 -- both in ND now)
Oasis: 4 (same)
Murex: 2 (down 1)

Others:

Questar: 1 (down 1)
Sagebrush: 1 (down 1)
Hunt: 2
Ritchie: 0
American: 2
Eagle: 0
Baytex: 2 (up 2)
Samson: 1
Simray: 1
Jayhawk: 0
PDC: 0
Cornerstone: 2 (up 1)
Peak: 1
Fidelity: 1
North Plains: 1
BTA: 1

If a number goes down, my hunch is the rig is moving to a new site, going over to Montana, or is being refurbished. I doubt rigs are being moth-balled or sent to states outside the Bakken.

Based on the number of companies whose rig numbers went down, and in one case where it went up two but still down 1 from its overall high (I think Zenergy had as many as 4 at one time, but I cold be mistaken), there are probably five (5) additional rigs in North Dakota, not currently active but moving to a new site.

Note that KOG has moved its 2nd rig into North Dakota.  Of interest, CLR is up to 18 rigs while BEXP has remained unchanged for quite some time, at 5. Hess is also showing an increase.

CLR really impresses me; Harold Hamm is really raising the ante. Compared to less than a year ago, CLR has more than tripled its number of rigs; EOG has doubled; BEXP up about 50%; WLL up about 75%. At the end of the day, it's all about daily production, and with 18 rigs CLR has a lot of capital expenditure on a monthly basis, but a year from now, CLR's production should be quite staggering.

Slawson and Hess have also more than doubled their number of rigs (both from 3 to 7).

On the other side of the coin: BR (same), Fidelity (same), XTO (about the same), Anschutz (down) St Mary about the same. This was Fidelity's "backyard" (corporate headquarters is in Bismarck, ND) and BR has been in ND for decades, and back in 2008 (and 2009?) was the number one producer in North Dakota -- obviously lots of legacy wells.

Here are the numbers back on November 9, 2009:

WLL: 7
EOG: 6
CLR: 5
BEXP: 3
Slawson: 3
BR: 3
Marathon: 3
Hess:3
Petro-Hunt: 3
St Mary Land: 3
XTO: 2
Anschutz: 3
Cirque: 2
Zenergy: 2