US rig count drops again, down 11 to 806

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. continued to fall the week ending Nov. 15, down 11 to 806, following drops of five, eight and 21 over the previous three weeks.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said the active rig count was down 276 from 1,082 active rigs a year ago.

The company reported that 674 rigs targeted oil (down 10 from the previous week; down 214 from a year ago) and 129 targeted natural gas (down one from the previous week; down 65 from a year ago). There were three miscellaneous rigs active (changed from the previous week and up by three from a year ago).

The company said 54 of the U.S. holes were directional, 702 were horizontal and 50 were vertical.

Ohio was up by two rigs from the previous week; New Mexico and Oklahoma were each up by one rig.

Rig counts in Alaska and California were unchanged from the previous week.

Colorado, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Utah were each down by one rig.

Louisiana, West Virginia and Wyoming were each down by two rigs.

Texas, the state with the most active rigs at 408, was down by five from the previous week.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with eight rigs active for the week ending Nov. 15, up two 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