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US drilling rig count plunges 64 to 664
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. the week ending April 3 was 664, down by 64 rigs, eclipsing a 44-rig drop from the previous week and a 20-rig drop the week before that, and down by 361 from 1,025 a year ago.
In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said 562 rigs targeted oil, down 62 from the previous week and down by 269 from a year ago, while 100 targeted natural gas, down two from the previous week and down 94 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by two from a year ago.
The company said 41 of the holes were directional, 593 were horizontal and 30 were vertical.
There were no states with an increase in drilling rigs from the previous week.
Rig counts were unchanged in Louisiana (44), Ohio (9), Pennsylvania (24), Utah (8) and West Virginia (15).
The rig count in Texas, the state with the most active rigs at 338, was down by 30 from the previous week, and down by 161 from a year ago.
Oklahoma was down by 10 rigs (to 29); New Mexico was down by nine rigs (to 100); North Dakota was down by six rigs (to 42); and Wyoming was down by five rigs (to 14).
California was down by two (to 10); Alaska (8 rigs) and Colorado (18 rigs) were each down by one rig.
The eight-rig count Baker Hughes shows for Alaska for the week ending April 3 is unchanged from a year ago.
The largest rig count drop by basin was the Permian, which also has the most active rigs at 351. The count in that basin was down 31 from the previous week and down 111 from a year ago.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.
Worldwide count down Baker Hughes released its monthly worldwide rig count April 3, showing a March international rig count (which excludes North America) of 1,059, down 26 from a February count of 1,085, but up 20 from a March 2019 count of 1,039.
The offshore portion of the international rig count was 244, down by one rig from 245 in February and down three from 247 in March 2019.
In March the U.S. rig count averaged 772, down 19 from 791 in February, and down 251 from 1,023 in March 2019. The Canadian rig count averaged 133 in March, down 116 from 249 in February and down 18 from 151 in March 2019.
The March worldwide rig count, which includes North America, was 1,964, down 161 from 2,125 in February and down 249 from 2,213 in March 2019.
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