The exploration and production sector in North Dakota is holding steady for the second straight week in a sign of building equilibrium, data show.

Government data from North Dakota show 76 rigs in active service as of Monday, unchanged from the previous week.

Lower crude oil prices forced many companies to cut spending on exploration and production in early 2015. A modest market recovery, however, means a slow return to drilling.

Baker Hughes reported last week the total number of rigs deployed in U.S. oil basins increased by 12 to 640 for the week ending June 26. That's the first net increase since the week ending Dec. 5.

Brent crude oil was $68 per barrel in early December, the same month North Dakota set an all-time record in terms of oil production at 1.2 million barrels per day.

As the market weakened, the NDIC said in early 2015 the low price of oil was "by far the biggest driver behind the slow-down" in rig activity in the state. Oil prices Monday are about 13 percent less than early December.

More than 90 percent of the production comes from the Bakken and Three Forks shale regions of the state. Oil production in April, the last full month for which data are available, was down nearly 2 percent from the previous month to 1.17 million barrels per day.

The rig count in late April was around 84, which was more than 125 lower than the historic peak reached in 2012.