Weekly US rig count falls by 6 to 842

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. the week ending Sept. 18 declined by six to 842.

Houston-based Baker Hughes said 644 rigs were drilling for oil and 198 for natural gas. A year ago, with oil prices about double the prices now, 1,931 rigs were active.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah each gained one rig.

Louisiana and North Dakota lost three rigs apiece, Pennsylvania declined by two and Kansas and Texas were down one each.

Alaska, Arkansas, California, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming all were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.

- Associated Press