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US drilling rig count unchanged at 254
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
The Baker Hughes U.S. rotary rig count remained unchanged the week ending Aug. 21 at 254, down 650 from 904 a year ago.
At the beginning of the year the count was in the low 790s, where it remained through mid-March, when it began to drop, reaching a new low May 8.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes has issued a weekly rig count for the U.S. since 1944. Prior to this year, the low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
Since May the number of active rotary rigs has dropped almost every week before gaining back 10 rigs the week ending Aug. 21.
This week’s count includes 180 rigs targeting oil, down three from the previous week and down 562 from a year ago, 72 rigs targeting gas, up three and down 90 for a year ago and two miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from the previous week and up two from a year ago.
Twenty of the holes were directional, 221 were horizontal and 13 were vertical.
Alaska count unchanged The rig count in Louisiana (34) was up by two from the previous week. New Mexico (46) and Texas (107) were each down by one rig.
Counts in all other states remained unchanged from the previous week: Alaska (3), California (4), Colorado (5), North Dakota (10), Ohio (5), Oklahoma (11), Pennsylvania (18), West Virginia (8) and Wyoming (1).
Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs Aug. 28, unchanged from the previous week and down by six from a year ago.
The rig count in the nation’s most active basin, the Permian (125), was down by two rigs from the previous week and down by 304 from a count of 429 a year ago.
Baker Hughes has issued weekly rig counts for the U.S. and Canada since 1944 and began issuing international rig counts in 1975.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. The new low, 244, was set the week ending Aug. 14; the previous low was 404 rigs in May 2016.
- KRISTEN NELSON
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