Drop in US rigs continues, count down six
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Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. continues to drop, down by six the week ending Sept. 6 to 898, following a drop of 12 the week ending Aug. 30.
In its weekly rig count, the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 150 from 1,048 active rigs a year ago.
The company reported that 738 rigs targeted oil (down four from the previous week; down 122 from a year ago) and 160 targeted natural gas (down two from the previous week; down 26 from a year ago). There were no miscellaneous rigs active.
The company said 67 of the U.S. holes were directional, 783 were horizontal and 48 were vertical.
North Dakota was the only state with an increase in rigs active from the previous week, up by three.
Rig counts in the majority of states were unchanged from the previous week: California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Alaska was down by one rig and Texas, with the most active rigs at 438, was down by three, while Oklahoma was down by five.
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Sept. 6, up from six a year ago.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.
Baker Hughes said Sept. 9 that the August international rig count (which excludes North America) was 1,138, down 24 from 1,162 in the July count, but up 130 from 1,008 in August 2018. The land count was 894, and the offshore count 244.
The U.S. count averaged 926 for August, Baker Hughes said, down 29 from 955 in July and down 124 from 1,050 in August 2018. In Canada the count averaged 142 in August, up 21 from 121 in July, but down 78 from 220 in August 2018.
Worldwide, the rig count was 2,206 in August (1,933 land, 273 offshore), down 32 from 2,238 in July and down 72 from 2,278 in August 2018.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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