US drilling rig count drops by 4 to 983

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by four the week ending May 24 to 983.

A year ago, the count was 1,059 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 797 rigs targeted oil (down five from the previous week) and 186 targeted natural gas (up one).

The company said 69 of the U.S. holes were directional, 863 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

The California rig count was up three from the previous week.

North Dakota, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were each up by one rig.

Rig counts in Alaska, Louisiana and Oklahoma were unchanged from the previous week.

Ohio, Texas and Wyoming were each down by one rig. Texas, at 481, has the most active rigs in the country.

Colorado was down two rigs from the previous week; New Mexico was down four.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with seven active rigs, compared to nine a year ago.

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

- Petroleum News