US rig count drops again, by 18, to 868

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 18 the week ending Sept. 20 to 868, following a drop of 12 the week ending Sept. 13.

In its weekly rig count, the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 185 from 1,053 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 719 rigs targeted oil (down 14 from the previous week; down 147 from a year ago) and 148 targeted natural gas (down five from the previous week; down 38 from a year ago). There was one miscellaneous rig active (up from zero the previous week; unchanged from a year ago).

The company said 61 of the U.S. holes were directional, 756 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

Alaska and New Mexico were each up one rig from the previous week.

Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were unchanged from the previous week.

Louisiana and Wyoming were each down one rig; California and North Dakota were each down two rigs.

Texas, with the most active rigs in the country at 423, was down seven rigs from the previous week.

Oklahoma was down 10 rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Sept. 20, up from five a year ago.

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

- KRISTEN NELSON