US rig count remains above 1,000 units

Sept. 25, 2009
US drilling activity increased for a second week, up 7 units to reach 1,017 rigs working during the week ended Sept. 25, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Sept. 25
-- US drilling activity increased for a second week, up 7 units reaching 1,017 rigs working this week, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

As is usual, the latest gain was in land operations, up 8 rigs to 979 working. Rig counts in inland waters and in the Gulf of Mexico remained unchanged at 7 and 31 units working, respectively. A total of 31 rigs were working in US coastal waters.

The number of rigs drilling for natural gas increased by 5 rigs to 710 this week, while those drilling for oil were up 4 to 297 units. There were 10 rigs unclassified, which is down 2 rigs from last week. Directional drilling decreased by 1 rig to 194 units working, while horizontal drilling gained 10 units to 442 rigs working.

Oklahoma netted the largest gain among major producing states, up 7 to 76 rigs drilling. Louisiana’s rig count was up 6 units to 153 rigs drilling. North Dakota gained 2 rigs to 48 rigs working. California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming all gained 1 rig each to 21, 46, 47, and 38, respectively. Alaska and Arkansas each lost 2 rigs, with 6 and 40 rigs working, respectively. Texas lost 6 rigs to 376 units drilling.

In other states of interest, Utah lost 3 rigs to 13, Pennsylvania was down 1 rig to 54, and West Virginia remained unchanged at 20.

Canada’s rig count increased by 14 to 228 this week, compared with 465 rigs working in the same period last year.