US drilling rig count drops 10 to 1,012

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by 10 the week ending April 19 to 1,012.

A year ago the count was 1,013 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 825 rigs targeted oil (down eight from the previous week) and 187 targeted natural gas (down two).

The company said 75 of the U.S. holes were directional, 886 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

Rig counts in California, New Mexico, North Dakota and Pennsylvania were unchanged from the previous week.

Alaska and Colorado were each down by one rig.

Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming were each down by two rigs. Texas, the most active state, has 500 active rigs, accounting for almost half of the U.S. total.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with seven active rigs, down one 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