US rig count down again, by 12, to 886

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 12 the week ending Sept. 13 to 886, following a drop of six the week ending Sept. 6.

In its weekly rig count, the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 169 from 1,055 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 733 rigs targeted oil (down five from the previous week; down 134 from a year ago) and 153 targeted natural gas (down seven from the previous week; down 33 from a year ago). There were no miscellaneous rigs active.

The company said 57 of the U.S. holes were directional, 776 were horizontal and 53 were vertical.

Pennsylvania was up by two rigs from the previous week; North Dakota and Oklahoma were each up by one.

Rig counts in New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming were unchanged from the previous week.

Alaska, California, Colorado and Ohio were each down by one rig from the previous week.

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

Texas, the state with the most active rigs, 430, was down by eight from the previous week.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with seven rigs active for the week ending Sept. 13, unchanged from a year ago.

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

- KRISTEN NELSON