Friday, April 8, 2011

173: Not Quite There, But Getting Close to a New Record -- Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Active rigs drilling in North Dakota: back up to 173, just one short of the all-time high (174).  And back up nicely from a recent "low" of 168.
On just this short list, it looks like there might be five (5) wells "unaccounted for" since the Hess/Tracker/AEZ buyouts (Tracker down 3; Hess up 3; AEZ down 5)
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5 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 8, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    I'm curious about the fracking backlog. Do all drilling companies rely on outside fracking companies or do some have their own and don't need to worry about a backlog?

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  2. Bruce OksolApril 8, 2011 at 11:57 AM

    Yes, I've posted about that before, but would have to search the blog to find the posts, and the companies with in-house frack teams probably changes over time.

    But CLR has at least two dedicated teams, if I recall. I believe CLR says their in-house dedicated teams can keep up with all their operated wells.

    I believe BEXP says they have one to two teams.

    I forget the others. But yes, some of the bigger companies have their own frack teams.

    The annual reports of these companies probably discuss this issue.

    By the way, that's one of the reasons why some of us think the smaller operators will have to merge with others or be bought by others.

    Imagine drilling a $6 million well, and then sitting on that well (no production) for six months. Small operators with only one or two wells will be at the end of the queue while waiting for a frack team to be free. Meanwhile, the operator has to start paying back that $6 million sunk to drill the well. Big operators have a huge cash flow challenge; small operators have a humongous cash flow challenge. I think that's why Hess able to buy Tracker (7 rigs) and AEZ (3 rigs).

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  3. AnonymousApril 8, 2011 at 12:29 PM

    Thanks for the info as always!

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  4. Bruce OksolApril 8, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    If you search the word "dedicated" at this blog site, you will find the companies that have dedicated frac teams.

    Slawson has 1.5, I think. That was in a NOG update. NOG often partners with Slawson.
    BEXP has 2.
    Hess has 5.

    I didn't look all the way through, and the search function doesn't search to the very end.

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  5. Bruce OksolApril 8, 2011 at 12:43 PM

    Actually, I have to thank you for asking the question. It tells me what folks are interested in, and gives me another idea for a stand-alone post.

    By the way, wouldn't it be interesting if "in-house" fracking teams made the difference between a small operator staying independent or having to merge (or be bought out). For investors, that might be a data point that could prove to be valuable.

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