US rig count continues down, drops by 8

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 eight the week ending Sept. 27 to 860, following a drop of 18 the week ending Sept. 20.

In its weekly rig count, the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 194 from 1,054 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 713 rigs targeted oil (down six from the previous week; down 150 from a year ago) and 146 targeted natural gas (down two from the previous week; down 43 from a year ago). There was one miscellaneous rig active (unchanged from the previous week; down one from a year ago).

The company said 57 of the U.S. holes were directional, 752 were horizontal and 51 were vertical.

No states had increased rig counts from the previous week.

The following states had unchanged rig counts: Alaska, California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia.

Colorado, Louisiana and Wyoming were each down one rig from the previous week.

Texas, the state with the largest number of active rigs, 418, was down five rigs from the previous week.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Sept. 27, up from six a year ago.

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

- KRISTEN NELSON