US rig count continues down, dropping 5

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. continues to drop, down by five the week ending Oct. 4 to 855, following a drop of eight the week ending Sept. 27.

In its weekly rig count, the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 197 from 1,052 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 710 rigs targeted oil (down three from the previous week; down 151 from a year ago) and 144 targeted natural gas (down two from the previous week; down 45 from a year ago). There was one miscellaneous rig active (unchanged from the previous week; down one from a year ago).

The company said 54 of the U.S. holes were directional, 749 were horizontal and 52 were vertical.

New Mexico was up four rigs from the previous week.

Alaska, North Dakota and Utah were each up by one rig.

The rig counts in Ohio and Pennsylvania were unchanged from the previous week.

California, Colorado, Louisiana and Wyoming were each down one rig from the previous week.

West Virginia was down by two rigs and Oklahoma was down by three.

Texas, the state with the most active rigs, 414, was down by four from the previous week.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with nine rigs active for the week ending Oct. 4, up from five a year ago.

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

- KRISTEN NELSON