National drilling rig gains 9 to 1,080

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was up by nine the week ending Dec. 21 to 1,080.

At this time last year there were 931 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 883 rigs targeted oil (up 10 from the previous week) and 197 targeted natural gas (down one).

The company said 71 of the U.S. holes were directional, 940 were horizontal and 69 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, North Dakota was up three rigs; Louisiana was up two; Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were each up one.

California and Wyoming were unchanged.

Alaska and Texas were each down by one rig.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with five 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