US drilling rig count at 1,049, up by 4

Petroleum News

The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was up by four the week ending Feb. 8 to 1,049.

At this time last year there were 975 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that 854 rigs targeted oil (up seven from the previous week) and 195 targeted natural gas (down three).

The company said 58 of the U.S. holes were directional, 923 were horizontal and 68 were vertical.

Among major oil and gas producing states, Alaska and California were each up by four rigs; Wyoming was up one rig.

Colorado, Louisiana, North Dakota and Pennsylvania were unchanged.

New Mexico was down one rig.

Oklahoma was down two rigs and Texas, the state with the most rig activity, was down three rigs to 511.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with 11 active rigs, up from five a year ago.

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

- Petroleum News