Drilling rig count jumps by 60 to 1,424 in weekly survey

Ray Tyson

Petroleum News Houston correspondent

The number of rotary rigs operating in North America, spurred by the Canadian rig count, soared to 1,424 during the week ending June 4, according to rig monitor Baker Hughes.

That means there were 60 more rigs operating in North America compared to the previous week and 102 more versus the year-ago period.

Canada accounted for all of the increase, jumping by 61 rigs to end the recent week at 256 rigs. However, Canada’s rig count was down by 12 compared to the same period last year.

The overall rig count was partly offset by a loss of one rig from the previous week in the United States, bringing the total there to 1,168 rigs for the recent week, still an increase of 114 rigs compared to the same period last year. Land rigs alone fell by five from the prior week to 1,054, while the inland waters picked up five rigs to end the recent week at 22. Offshore United States lost one rig for a total of 92 in the recent week.

Of the total number of rigs operating in the United States during the recent week, 1,008 were drilling for natural gas and 159 for oil, while one rig was being used for miscellaneous purposes. Of the total, 739 were drilling vertical wells, 305 directional wells, and 124 horizontal wells.

Among the leading producing states in the United States, Louisiana’s rig count during the recent week jumped by nine to 169. Oklahoma’s increased by five to 168. Wyoming’s increased by 74. And California’s increased by one to 22. The number of rigs operating in Texas fell by seven to 494 and slipped by one to total seven in Alaska. New Mexico was unchanged at 66 rigs.