US oil and gas drilling activity this week increased by 22 units to reach 1,972 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Apr. 20 was up by 172 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Most of this gain was seen in land drilling operations, up 19 units to 1,904 rigs working. There were 45 rigs drilling offshore—all of which in the Gulf of Mexico—which was up 2 units from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 23, up 1 rig from last week (OGJ Online, Apr. 13, 2012).
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil jumped 15 units from a week ago to reach 1,337. Rigs targeting for gas for the week ended Apr. 20 increased by 7 rigs to reach 631 units working. There were 4 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week.
Baker Hughes reported 246 rigs doing directional drilling, a gain of 9 units from a week ago. Horizontal drilling increased by 10 rigs to a total of 1,155 units working.
Of the top producing states, Texas made a 13-rig jump from last week to reach 929 units working. Three states gained 5 units, namely Oklahoma, 201; Louisiana, 131; and Colorado, 68. There were six states unchanged from a week ago: Pennsylvania, 101; New Mexico, 85; California, 45; Arkansas, 26; West Virginia, 22; and Ohio, 12. North Dakota and Wyoming, at 195 and 40, respectively, were down 1 rig each from a week ago. Alaska, meanwhile, was down 2 units to 7 rigs working.
Canada’s rig count declined another 18 units from a week ago, reaching 146. This is up 3 units from the same period a year ago.
Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].