US oil and gas drilling activity this week decreased by 16 units to 1,973 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Mar. 9 was up by 258 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were down 15 units this week to 1,914 rigs working. There were 41 rigs drilling offshore, an increase of 1 rig from the previous week. All of these rigs were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 18, down 2 units from last week (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2012).
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil made a 3-unit jump from a week ago to reach 1,296 rigs. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Mar. 9 plunged by 21 rigs to reach 670 units working. There were 7 rotary rigs unclassified, up 2 units from the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported 212 rigs doing directional drilling, down 3 units. Horizontal drilling decreased by 6 rigs to a total of 1,164 units working.
Of the top producing states, Oklahoma lost 6 units to reach 195 rigs working. Pennsylvania was down 4 units to 101. Alaska was off by 3 rigs to 6; Colorado was down 2 rigs to 63. New Mexico, Wyoming, and West Virginia were down 1 rig each to counts of 81, 45, and 28, respectively. California, at 44, and Arkansas, at 29, were unchanged from a week ago. Louisiana gained 1 rig to 137. Texas and North Dakota gained 3 rigs each to respective counts of 929 and 196 units working.
Canada’s rig count declined by 26 units from a week ago, reaching 655. This is up 27 units from the same period a year ago.
Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].
