US rig count below 500 at 465, down 64

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The U.S. drilling rig count hit a low of 404 in May 2016 and appears to be headed in that direction now.

Baker Hughes reported April 24 that the number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas in the U.S. was 465, down 64 from the week ending April 16 and down 526 from a year ago.

The count continues a recent steep drop: down by 73, 62, 64, 44 and 20 rigs respectively over the previous five weeks.

In its weekly rig count the Houston oilfield services company said 378 rigs targeted oil, down 60 from the previous week and down by 427 from a year ago, while 85 targeted natural gas, down four from the previous week and down 101 from a year ago. There were two miscellaneous rigs active, unchanged from the previous week and up by two from a year ago.

The company said 23 of the holes were directional, 426 were horizontal and 16 were vertical.

No states had week-over-week rig counts increases.

Rig counts were unchanged in Alaska (3), Ohio (9), Pennsylvania (25), Utah (5) and Wyoming (6).

The rig count in Texas, which at 231 has the most active rigs, was down by 31 from the previous week and down by 260 from a year ago.

New Mexico (70) was down by 14 rigs and North Dakota (27) was down by seven.

Oklahoma (20) was down by four rigs.

California (5) and West Virginia (7) were each down by three rigs.

Colorado (15) and Louisiana (40) were each down by one rig.

Baker Hughes shows Alaska with three active rigs, down by three from a year ago.

The largest rig count drop by basin was in the Permian, which also has the most active rigs at 246. The count in that basin was down 37 from the previous week and down 283 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