US drilling rig count unchanged at 1,075

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was unchanged the week ending Jan. 11 at 1,075.

At this time last year there were 939 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 873 rigs targeted oil (down four from the previous week) and 202 targeted natural gas (up four).

The company said 62 of the U.S. holes were directional, 948 were horizontal and 65 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, New Mexico and Pennsylvania were each up by two rigs.

Alaska, California, Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming were unchanged.

Louisiana and Texas were each down by one rig.

Oklahoma was down by four rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with nine active rigs, up three 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