235 rigs running in the Permian right now. Sounds like the promised land until you realize that's 60 fewer than last year.
The Bakken? Holding steady at 26. Small but stable.
Here's what nobody tells you before you load the U-Haul heading to Midland:
Rent jumped nearly 18% in one year. You're looking at $5,000/month for a family of four just to live there. Then summer hits. 100°F for weeks straight. Working outside in that heat is its own kind of punishment... and your electric bill proves it every month.
Up here in the Bakken it gets to -40°F. Not wind chill. Actual temperature. Equipment doesn't just freeze... it quits. Roads will humble you fast.
But you can layer up. You can't take off enough clothes on a Permian location in August.
The pay is comparable. The cost of living is comparable. The rigs are both down from last year. So what are you actually trading one for the other for?
Frozen hell or burning hell... pick your poison.
Bakken guys...would you ever go south?
Permian guys...would you ever go north?