Emerald Oil Bakken Acreage Map|Click to Enlarge Emerald Oil, Inc. could cut its Bakken drilling program the first quarter of next year if the price of oil continues to drop. Emerald’s CEO McAndrew Rudisill announced the company’s plans in a conference call for investors this week. With WTI now below $80, we could see the first shoes begin to drop among some Bakken producers. According to the consultancy Wood Mackenzie, breakeven oil prices range from $60 to $80 per barrel in North Dakota’s Bakken. Emerald’s current three-rig drilling program is slated to continue in the Bakken through the end of the year, but the contract for one of its rigs expires in the first quarter of next year (March 15, 2015), and the company may not renew it. According to Rudisill, the company’s decision will be determined largely by what is happening with WTI crude oil price.”We have to respond to large changes in the price of crude oil, […]