The US drilling rig count fell by 13 units during the week ended Apr. 19 to a total of 1,758 rotary rigs working, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. That compares with 1,972 rigs working in the comparable week last year.
Most of the losses were seen in land-based drilling activity, which decreased 13 units from a week ago to 1,684 rigs working. Offshore and inland water drilling remained at counts of 49 and 25, respectively, unchanged from a week ago. Of the rigs drilling offshore, 47 were in the Gulf of Mexico, also unchanged from a week ago.
Rigs targeting oil fell by 16 units to 1,371, while those targeting gas increased by 2 to 379. There were 8 rigs considered unclassified, up 1 unit from a week ago.
Rigs drilling horizontally were reported at 1,097, down 5 units from a week ago and 58 fewer than the comparable week last year. Rigs drilling directionally fell 6 units to 200. This compared with 246 rigs working horizontally in the comparable week a year ago.
Of the major oil and gas producing states, Texas was down 11 units to 837, and Oklahoma was down 5 rigs to 180. Five states were down 2 rigs each: North Dakota, 176; New Mexico, 78; Wyoming, 40; Ohio, 30; and Alaska, 8. West Virginia, at 24, and Arkansas, at 15, were both unchanged from a week ago. Louisiana and Pennsylvania, with respective counts of 108 and 60, were up 1 rig each. Colorado and California were down 2 units each, reaching respective counts of 61 and 41.
Canada’s rig count was off again this week, down 30 units to 126. This count includes 65 rigs drilling for oil (down 18 units from a week ago) and 61 units drilling for gas (down 12 from a week ago). The total was down 20 units from 146 rigs working in the comparable week last year.