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US rig count continues down, now at 258
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Baker Hughes’ weekly U.S. oil and gas drilling rig count released July 10 showed another drop in the count, down five from the previous week, to 258, and down 700 from a count of 958 a year ago.
Each week in the last 10 has set a new record for low number of rigs, 374 rigs on May 8 of this year; 339 rigs on May 15; 318 on May 22; 301 on May 29; 284 on June 5; 279 on June 12; 266 on June 19; 265 on June 26; 263 on July 2; and 258 for the current week. The Houston oilfield services company has issued a weekly rig count since 1944. Prior to this year, the low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
The company said 181 rigs targeted oil, down four from the previous week and down 603 from a year ago, while 75 targeted gas, down one from the previous week and down 97 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by one from a year ago.
Nineteen of the holes were directional, 220 were horizontal and 19 were vertical.
Alaska count unchanged New Mexico (49) was up by a single rig from the previous week.
Rig counts were unchanged for Alaska (3), California (4), Colorado (5), Louisiana (31), North Dakota (10), Ohio (8), Oklahoma (10), Pennsylvania (22) and Wyoming (1).
West Virginia (5) was down by one rig from the previous week.
Texas, which has the most active rigs in the country at 107, was down five.
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs July 10, down by five from a year ago.
The rig count in the nation’s most active basin, the Permian (125), was down by one rig from the previous week, and down by 312 from a count of 437 a year ago.
Baker Hughes has issued weekly rig counts for the U.S. and Canada since 1944 and began issuing international rig counts in 1975.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. This week’s count of 258 is a new low, surpassing lows set in the previous nine weeks. Prior to that the previous low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
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