US drilling rig count drops 1 to 987

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by one the week ending May 17 to 987.

A year ago, the count was 1,046 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 802 rigs targeted oil (down three from the previous week) and 185 targeted natural gas (up two).

The company said 73 of the U.S. holes were directional, 866 were horizontal and 48 were vertical.

The Ohio rig count was up four from the previous week, Wyoming was up three, Louisiana was up two and New Mexico was up one.

California, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah were unchanged.

West Virginia was down one rig from the previous week.

Alaska and Oklahoma were each down two rigs.

Pennsylvania and Texas were each down three rigs. Texas, at 482, has the most active rigs in the country.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with seven active rigs, the same count as a year ago.

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

- Petroleum News