National drilling rig count down 1 at 1,075

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was down up by one Dec. 7 to 1,075.

At this time last year there were 931 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 877 rigs targeted oil (down 10 from the previous week) and 198 targeted natural gas (up nine).

The company said 72 of the U.S. holes were directional, 933 were horizontal and 70 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, New Mexico was up two rigs; Alaska and Pennsylvania were each up one rig.

California, Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming were unchanged.

Louisiana was down by one rig; Texas was down two rigs; Oklahoma was down three rigs.

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