National drilling rig gains 3 to 1,083

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was up by three the week ending Dec. 28 to 1,083.

At this time last year there were 929 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 885 rigs targeted oil (up two from the previous week) and 198 targeted natural gas (up one).

The company said 70 of the U.S. holes were directional, 945 were horizontal and 68 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, Alaska was up two rigs and Louisiana and Texas were each up one.

California, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota and Pennsylvania were unchanged.

Oklahoma and Wyoming were each down by one rig.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with seven active rigs, 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.

- Petroleum News