National drilling rig count up 1 to 1,082

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was up by one the week ending Nov. 16 to 1,082.

At this time last year there were 915 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 888 rigs targeted oil (up two from the previous week) and 194 targeted natural gas (down by one).

The company said 71 of the U.S. holes were directional, 939 were horizontal and 72 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, Texas was up by three rigs and Pennsylvania was up one.

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

New Mexico was down by one and Oklahoma was down by two.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with six active rigs, up one 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