US drilling rig count drops 3 to 1,022

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by three the week ending April 12 to 1,022.

A year ago the count was 1,008 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 833 rigs targeted oil (up two from the previous week) and 189 targeted natural gas (down five).

The company said 78 of the U.S. holes were directional, 889 were horizontal and 55 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, Texas, the most active state with 502 rigs, was up three from the previous week.

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

West Virginia was down one rig and New Mexico was down two.

Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were each down three rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight active rigs, unchanged 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