US drilling rig count up 7 to 1,771

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by seven the week ending Feb. 21 to 1,771.

The Houston firm said in its weekly report that 1,425 rigs were drilling for oil and 342 for gas. Four were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,761 active rigs.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained six rigs, Alaska gained three and Pennsylvania gained one.

Louisiana, New Mexico and North Dakota each lost two rigs while Kansas, Ohio and Oklahoma each lost one. Arkansas, California, Colorado, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

—Associated Press