US drilling rig count at 1,051, up by 2

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was up by two the week ending Feb. 15 to 1,051.

At this time last year there were 975 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 857 rigs targeted oil (up three from the previous week) and 194 targeted natural gas (down one).

The company said 70 of the U.S. holes were directional, 915 were horizontal and 66 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, Louisiana was up by four rigs and Wyoming was up by three.

Alaska, California and Wyoming each had an increase of one rig.

Colorado was unchanged.

North Dakota and Oklahoma were each down by one rig.

New Mexico and Texas (the most active state with 509 rigs) were each down by two rigs.

Pennsylvania was down by three rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with 12 active rigs, up from 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