As you may know, the oil service company Baker Hughes every week publishes a rig count summarizing the number of oil and gas drilling rigs operating in various regions of the U.S. Given that we’re in the deeper stages of another oil bust, this is a good time to take a short look at the past 5 years to see how the number of rigs operating in the Williston Basin has fluctuated. Here, from Baker Hughes, are some snapshots of those fluctuations:
February 18, 2011: 158
October 7, 2011: 200
June 1, 2012: 224
August 2, 2013: 181
March 21, 2014: 186
September 26, 2014: 198
January 2, 2015: 179
January 30, 2015: 148
March 6, 2015: 108
May 8, 2015: 80
September 11, 2015: 71
December 4, 2015: 60
December 31, 2015: 53
February 19, 2016: 36
A Brief History of North Dakota Oil Production 