US rig count continues to fall, down by 5

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. continued to fall the week ending Nov. 8, down by five to 817, following a drop of eight the previous week and a steep drop of 21 rigs the week ending Oct. 25.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 264 from 1,081 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 684 rigs targeted oil (down seven from the previous week; down 202 from a year ago) and 130 targeted natural gas (unchanged from the previous week; down 65 from a year ago). There were three miscellaneous rigs active (up two from the previous week and up by three from a year ago).

The company said 56 of the U.S. holes were directional, 710 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

Alaska and California were each up by one rig from the previous week.

The rig counts in most states were unchanged from the previous week: Colorado, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

North Dakota was down by one rig.

Texas, with the most active rigs at 413, was down by three from the previous week.

New Mexico was down by four.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Nov. 8, 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.

SUBHED: International rigs

Baker Hughes released its monthly international rig count for October on Nov. 7.

International rigs averaged 1,130 in October, down one from the September count of 1,131 but up 113 from an October 2018 count of 1,017. The worldwide count, including North America, averaged 2,123 rigs in October, down 18 from 2,141 in September and down 148 from a count of 2,271 in October 2018.

North America, the U.S. and Canada, averaged 993 in October, down 17 from an average of 1,010 in September and down 261 from an October 2018 average of 1,254.

- KRISTEN NELSON