Active Rigs In North Dakota Take Huge Jump: Up To 193

A reader alerted me to this. Thank you.

I have noted the trend of increasing rig count over the past week, but this is quite a surprise. Two things come to mind: EOG said they were ramping up and some new operators came into the Bakken over the past year.

I track drilling rig milestones here. Although "we" did hit 194 earlier this year for a short period, we really haven't seen a sustained "193" level since one year ago.

For newbies, this is nowhere near the record (218, set back in May, 2012), it is still a very interesting up-tick.  Less than three months ago a new post-boom record low of 177 was set, and now with the onset of winter coming on, the operators are back to 193.

Some of the data points for this calendar year, 2013:

• November 26, 2013: 193
• September 16, 2013: 177 (new record, post-boom low; but completing more wells than ever)
• August 1, 2013: 178 (gradual trend downward over the summer, finally hitting new low)
• May 15, 2013: 194 (from 191 to 193 first thing in the a.m.; 194 by noon )
• May 14, 2013: 191 (from 187 to 191)
• May 3, 2013: 192 (new post-boom record)
• May 2, 2013: 191 (ties post-boom record)
• March 11, 2013: 189 -- generally hovering around 185
• January 27, 2013: 191 -- since hitting 179, the number of active rigs has gradually climbed
• January 4, 2013: new intra-boom low -- 179