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US rig count continues tumble: 1944 was first count, 301 new low
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Baker Hughes’ weekly count of rotary rigs drilling in the U.S., issued since 1944, continues to drop, setting a new low of 301 for the week ending May 29, down 17 from the previous week and down 683 from a year ago.
Prior to this year, the low count by the Houston oilfield services company was 404 rigs in May 2016. That record has now been broken four weeks in a row: 374 rigs on May 8 of this year, 339 rigs on May 15; 318 on May 22; and this week’s new low of 301.
The count has been dropping steadily: down by 17, 21, 35, 34, 64, 73, 62, 64, 44 and 20 rigs respectively, a total of 434, over the previous 10 weeks.
The company said 222 rigs targeted oil, down 15 from the previous week and down 578 from a year ago, while 77 targeted gas, down two from the previous week and down 107 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by two from a year ago.
Twenty-three of the holes were directional, 271 were horizontal and seven were vertical.
Alaska count unchanged Ohio (9) was up one rig from the previous week.
Rig counts were unchanged for Alaska (3), Colorado (6), Louisiana (35), Oklahoma (12), West Virginia (8) and Wyoming (2).
The rig count in Texas, which at 127 has the most active rigs in the country, was down by 11 from the previous week and down by 353 from a year ago.
New Mexico (61), North Dakota (12) and Pennsylvania (20) were each down by two rigs from the previous week.
California (4) was down by one rig.
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs for the week ending May 29, down by four from a year ago.
The largest rig count drop by basin was in the Permian, which also has the most active rigs at 148. The Permian count was down 14 from the previous week and down 304 from 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. This week’s count of 301 is a new low, surpassing lows set in the previous three weeks. Prior to that the previous low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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