US drilling rig count down 4 at 963

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

On July 3, prior to the Fourth of July holiday, the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was down four from the previous week at 963.

A year ago, the count was 1,052 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 788 rigs targeted oil (down five from the previous week) and 174 targeted natural gas (up one). One miscellaneous rig was active.

The company said 66 of the U.S. holes were directional, 839 were horizontal and 58 were vertical.

New Mexico was up three rigs from the previous week, Alaska was up by two and West Virginia was up one.

In California, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia the rig counts were unchanged from the previous week.

Texas, with the most active rigs in the country, 463, was down one rig from the previous week.

Louisiana was down four rigs from the previous week; Oklahoma was down five.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with nine rigs active, up two from a year ago.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.

The June international rig count, which Baker Hughes also reported on July 3, stood at 1,138, up 12 rigs from 1,126 counted in May and up 179 from 959 in June 2018. The company said the international offshore rig count was 246, up six from May and up 51 from 195 active in June 2018.

The U.S. rig count averaged 969 in June, down 17 from May and down 87 from the 1,056 last June.

Worldwide, the June average was 2,221, up 39 from May and up 69 from the 2,152 counted in June 2018.

- KRISTEN NELSON