New Record: 161 Active Rigs

Wow, wow, wow, 8:27 p.m. CST, Tuesday, November 23, 2010, and "we" have a new record: 161 active rigs in North Dakota.

Back on September 3, 2010, we were at 146, and I was completely surprised. I opined then "we" had probably topped out. Boy, was I wrong. Less than three months later, up to 161. 

Assuming none of the companies that contract these rigs leaves the Bakken in the next twelve months, it's hard to say how much higher this could go: Williams Cos has bought acreage and will start drilling next year, I assume. Enerplus (ERF) bought additional acreage in the past few months and I assume they will want to increase drilling. Hess bought all that TRZ acreage. NOG announces last week they will be doubling their CAPEX program in 2011.

There's still a lot of work to be done in the Bakken formations.

Folks are just getting started in another proven field, the Three Forks Sanish.

Leasing has begun for the Tyler formation.

There's a bit of activity directed to the Spearfish formation.

And we haven't even mentioned the Madison, which has accounted for 52% of all oil produced in North Dakota.

The "sleeper"? The Lodgepole. The most productive single well in North Dakota is a Lodgepole well (when you get to this link, scroll down), and recently there has been more interest.