US drilling rig count drops 20 to 772

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. the week ending March 20 was down by 20 from the previous week to 772 and down by 244 from 1,016 a year ago.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said 664 rigs targeted oil, down 19 from the previous week and down by 160 from a year ago, while 106 targeted natural gas, down one from the previous week and down 86 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by two from a year ago.

The company said 49 of the holes were directional, 696 were horizontal and 27 were vertical.

The rig count in Texas, the state with the most active rigs at 397, was down by 11 from the previous week.

New Mexico (112 rigs) was down by five rigs from the previous week; Oklahoma (43 rigs) was down by three; and North Dakota (50 rigs) was down by one.

Rig counts were unchanged from the previous week in Alaska (10 rigs), California (12 rigs), Colorado (21 rigs), Louisiana (47 rigs), Ohio (nine rigs), Pennsylvania (24 rigs), Utah (seven rigs), West Virginia (15 rigs) and Wyoming (20 rigs).

The 10-rig count Baker Hughes shows for Alaska for the week ending March 20 is up 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