US drilling rig count down by 8 to 1,075

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was down by eight the week ending Jan. 4 to 1,075.

At this time last year there were 924 active rigs.

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

The company said 66 of the U.S. holes were directional, 945 were horizontal and 64 were vertical.

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

Colorado was up by one rig.

North Dakota, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were unchanged.

New Mexico and Wyoming were each down by one rig.

Louisiana was down by two rigs and California was down by five rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with nine active rigs, up four 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