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US rig count continues down, now at 253
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Baker Hughes’ weekly U.S. oil and gas drilling rig count for July 17 showed a continuing drop, down five from the previous week to 253 and down 701 from 954 a year ago.
Each week in the last 11 the count has set a new record for low number of rigs, 374 rigs on May 8 of this year; 339 rigs on May 15; 318 on May 22; 301 on May 29; 284 on June 5; 279 on June 12; 266 on June 19; 265 on June 26; 263 on July 2; 258 on July 10; and 253 for the current week. The Houston oilfield services company has issued a weekly rig count since 1944. Prior to this year, the low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
Baker Hughes said 180 rigs targeted oil, down one from the previous week and down 599 from a year ago, while 71 targeted gas, down four from the previous week and down 103 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by one from a year ago.
Twenty-three of the holes were directional, 215 were horizontal and 15 were vertical.
Alaska count unchanged New Mexico (50) and West Virginia (6) were each up by a single rig from the previous week.
Rig counts were unchanged for Alaska (3), California (4), Colorado (5), North Dakota (10), Oklahoma (10) and Wyoming (1).
Louisiana (30) and Pennsylvania (21) were each down by one rig from the previous week.
Ohio (6) was down by two rigs while Texas, with the most active rigs at 104, was down by three.
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs July 17, down by seven from a year ago.
The rig count in the nation’s most active basin, the Permian (124), was down by one rig from the previous week, and down by 316 from a count of 440 a year ago.
Baker Hughes has issued weekly rig counts for the U.S. and Canada since 1944 and began issuing international rig counts in 1975.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. This week’s count of 253 is a new low, surpassing lows set in the previous 10 weeks. Prior to that the previous low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
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