US rig count takes big drop, down by 21

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. took a steep drop the week ending Oct. 25, down by 21 to 830, following a drop of just five rigs the previous week.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 238 from 1,068 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 696 rigs targeted oil (down 17 from the previous week; down 179 from a year ago) and 133 targeted natural gas (down four from the previous week; down 60 from a year ago). There was one miscellaneous rig active (that count unchanged from the previous week and unchanged from a year ago).

The company said 51 of the U.S. holes were directional, 728 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

Oklahoma had the largest week over week drop, down six.

Texas, with more than half the active rigs in the country at 418, was down by five.

North Dakota and Wyoming were each down by two rigs.

Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia were each down by one.

Rig counts in Alaska, California and Ohio were unchanged from the previous week.

Colorado was up by one rig.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Oct. 18, up from three a year ago.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.

- KRISTEN NELSON