US drilling rig count drops by 4 to 790

Petroleum News

Baker Hughes reports the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped by four to 790 the week ending Jan. 31, down from 794 the previous week and down by 255 from 1,045 a year ago.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said 675 rigs targeted oil, down one from the previous week and down 172 from a year ago, while 112 targeted natural gas, down three from the previous week and down 86 from a year ago. There were three miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by three from a year ago.

The company said 45 of the holes were directional, 711 were horizontal and 34 were vertical.

Colorado was up by one rig from the previous week.

Rig counts were unchanged from the previous week in California, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Alaska was down by one rig.

Louisiana was down by two rigs, as was Texas, the state with the most active rigs at 395.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with nine rigs active for the week ending Jan. 31, 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