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US weekly rig count hits new low of 247
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Baker Hughes U.S. rotary rig count dropped again the week ending Aug. 7, setting a new record low of 247 active rigs, down four from the previous week and down 687 from a year ago.
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.
New record lows were set for 12 consecutive weeks beginning May 8 when the count dropped to 374 rigs. The count dropped each week through July 24, when it hit 251, staying at 251 for the week ending July 31, before dropping again.
The drop was in rigs targeting oil, at 176 down four from the previous week and down 588 from 764 a year ago. Sixty-nine rigs targeted gas, unchanged form the previous week and down 100 from 169 a year ago. Two rigs were listed as miscellaneous, unchanged from last week and up one from a year ago.
Twenty-four of the holes were directional, 211 were horizontal and 12 were vertical.
Alaska count unchanged Rig counts were unchanged for Alaska (3), California (4), Colorado (5), Louisiana (29), North Dakota (11), Ohio (6), Oklahoma (11), Pennsylvania (20), Texas (104), West Virginia (5) and Wyoming (1).
New Mexico (46) was down by three rigs.
There is a difference of one rig in the totals provided by Baker Hughes and the counts they show by state and basin, with the summary total showing a drop of four rigs while the state and basin totals show only a drop of three rigs. The company did not provide an answer to this discrepancy prior to this issue going to press.
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs Aug. 7, unchanged from the previous week and down by five from a year ago.
The rig count in the nation’s most active basin, the Permian (122), was down by two rigs from the previous week, and down by 322 from a count of 444 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. The count for this week, 247, is a new low. Prior to declines which began in May of this year, the previous low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
International counts Baker Hughes’ international rig count for July, excluding the U.S. and Canada, was 743 rigs, 560 land and 183 offshore, down 38 from a June count of 781, 587 land and 194 offshore rigs, and down from a July 2019 count of 1,162, 907 land and 255 offshore rigs.
The largest regional drop internationally was in the Middle East, with 315 rigs in July, down 28 from June and down from 424 rigs in July 2019.
For North America, the U.S. rig count was 255 in July, 243 land and 12 offshore, down 19 from a count of 274 in June, 262 land and 12 offshore, and down from 955 in July 2019, 930 land and 25 offshore.
For Canada, the July count was 32 rigs, 31 land and one offshore, up 14 from a count of 18 in June, 16 land and two offshore, and down from 121 in July 2019, 118 land and three offshore.
The worldwide rig count for July was 1,030, down 43 from a June count of 1,073, and down 1,208 from a July 2019 count of 2,238.
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