US drilling rig count down 4 to 954

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

On July 19 the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was down four from the previous week to 954.

A year ago, the count was 1,046 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 779 rigs targeted oil (down five from the previous week) and 174 targeted natural gas (up two). One miscellaneous rig was active (down one).

The company said 69 of the U.S. holes were directional, 829 were horizontal and 56 were vertical.

New Mexico was up five rigs from the previous week; Alaska was up by two.

In California, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and Wyoming rig counts were unchanged from the previous week.

Ohio and West Virginia were each down by one rig.

Texas, with the most active rigs in the country, 454, was down two from the previous week.

Louisiana and Oklahoma were each down by three rigs.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with 10 rigs active, up five 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