Closing Out The Poll On Number Of Rigs In 2016 -- December 26, 2015

I'm going to close out the poll in which we asked if we will see less than 50 active rigs in North Dakota this winter?

• Yes: 48%
• No: 21%
• No, but it will be close: 31%

I am closing it out because we are now starting to see articles discussing the same question.

For the record, my hunch is we get close to 51 active rigs in the first half of 2016, and then rebound to near 60 at the end of the year (2016). I assume drillers are contracting rigs for six months at a time, so whatever the number is at the end of January, 2016, it will be close to the number we see at the end of June (winter weather will result in some day-to-day volatility short term, but that will be background noise). The roughnecks have shown their ability to work through some difficult weather. Fracking is a different story, however.

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News

Update, 5:34 p.m. Central Time: Texas panhandle faces 15 inches of snow; historic blizzard.

NWS says 'historic' blizzard could hit Amarillo, Lubbock and parts of the Texas Panhandle, December 26, 2015, 10:30 a.m. Central Time.