US drilling rig count falls 20 units to below 2,000

Jan. 13, 2012
US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week declined by 20 units to 1,987 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Jan. 13 was up by 287 from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week declined by 20 units to 1,987 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Jan. 13 was up by 287 from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Drilling operations on land took a majority of this hit, down 19 units to 1,929 rigs working. There were 43 rigs drilling offshore, 1 more than a week ago. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 15, down 2 units from last week.

Of the US rigs working, 1,191 were drilling for oil, which is unchanged from last week. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Jan. 13 lost 20 rigs to reach 791. There were 5 rotary rigs unclassified, the same as the previous week.

At 213 rigs, directional drilling activity was down by 3 units from the previous week. Horizontal drilling increased by 1 rig to a total of 1,161.

Wyoming had the biggest loss this week, down 8 units to 47 rigs working. Colorado, at 71, was down 6 units from a week ago. Oklahoma was off 4 to 188 rigs working. Texas, Louisiana, and West Virginia were all down 2 units to respective counts of 925, 148, 26. New Mexico was down 1 unit to 80 rigs. California, at 47, was unchanged from a week ago. North Dakota and Arkansas climbed 1 rig each, reaching 182 and 33, respectively. Alaska, at 7, was up 2 units, and Pennsylvania, at 115, climbed 3 units.

Canada’s rig count shot up by 250 units from a week ago, reaching 611. This is up 34 units from the same period a year ago.