US drilling rig count drops by 9 to 796

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The U.S. active drilling rig count dropped by nine to 796 the week ending Jan. 3, down from 805 the previous week and down by 279 from a year ago.

The company reported that 670 rigs targeted oil (down seven from the previous week; down 207 from a year ago) and 123 targeted natural gas (down two from the previous week; down 75 from a year ago). There were three miscellaneous rigs active (unchanged from the previous week and up by three from a year ago).

The company said 51 of the U.S. holes were directional, 701 were horizontal and 44 were vertical.

Alaska was up one rig from the previous week.

Rig counts in seven states were unchanged: California, Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota, Ohio, Utah and West Virginia.

The remaining states were each down by one rig from the previous week, including Texas, which at 403 has the nation’s largest active rig count. Also dropping by one rig were New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Jan. 3, down one 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