US active rig count holds steady at 799

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. held steady at 799 the week ending Dec. 13, following drops the previous seven weeks of three, one, three, 11, five, eight and 21 rigs respectively.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 272 from 1,071 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 667 rigs targeted oil (up four from the previous week; down 206 from a year ago) and 129 targeted natural gas (down four from the previous week; down 69 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 52 of the U.S. holes were directional, 693 were horizontal and 54 were vertical.

West Virginia was up by three rigs from the previous week; Pennsylvania was up by one.

Rig counts in California, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah were unchanged from the previous week.

Texas, at 400, has the most active rigs in the country.

Alaska, Colorado and New Mexico were each down by one rig.

Ohio and Wyoming were each down by two rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with six rigs active for the week ending Dec. 13, unchanged 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