By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Oct. 15 -- US drilling activity was essentially flat this week with a net loss of only 1 rotary rig for a total of 1,670 working, Baker Hughes Inc reported. This was up from 1,040 units drilling in the same period a year ago.
Land operations lost 1 rig to 1,633 drilling. Inland waters activity also lost 1 to 16 rigs working. Offshore drilling increased by 1 unit to 21 now active, all in the Gulf of Mexico.
Among the rigs now working, 966 are drilling for natural gas, an decrease of 5 this week. There were 695 units drilling for oil, up 5. There were 9 rigs unclassified. Directional drilling declined by 7 rigs to 206. Horizontal drilling was down 3 to 926.
Oklahoma had the biggest gain among the major producing states with 146 rigs working, up 9 from the previous week. Pennsylvania and Colorado each gained 2 rigs to 99 and 69 units, respectively. North Dakota, Wyoming, and California each gained 1 rig to 138, 45, and 34, respectively. New Mexico and West Virginia both lost 1 rig to respective counts of 68 and 22. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Alaska lost 2 units each to 181, 37, and 5, respectively. Texas, meanwhile, had the largest decrease, down by 12 units to 715 drilling.
Canada’s weekly count jumped by 20 to 423 rotary rigs working, up from 250 in the same period last year.