US drilling activity takes 14-rig hit

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Dec. 17 -- US drilling activity decreased this week by 14 rotary rigs to 1,709 working. This compared with 1,193 active units in the same period a year ago, reported Baker Hughes Inc.

Most of the losses were in land drilling, down by 13 units to 1,670. Offshore drilling was unchanged with 23 rigs working, all in the Gulf of Mexico. Inland waters activity was down by 1 to 16 rigs working.

Of the US rigs active this week, 941 were drilling for natural gas, 7 fewer than the previous week. The number drilling for oil also decreased by 7 to reach 756. There were 12 rotary rigs unclassified. Horizontal drilling fell by 12 units to 954. Directional drilling declined by 5 to 220 units.

The biggest rig count decrease among major producing states was in Wyoming, down 6 to 43 drilling. Texas and Oklahoma were each down 4 units to respective counts of 749 and 149. Colorado, California, and Alaska were all down 1 unit, reaching 64, 35, and 7, respectively. Unchanged was Arkansas with 37 units. North Dakota and West Virginia had increases of 1 rig each, with respective counts of 145 and 23. Gaining 2 rigs each were Louisiana, 175, and New Mexico, 67. Pennsylvania gained the most this week, up 3 rigs to 103.

Canada’s rotary rig count topped out at 500, jumping 18 units from last week, compared with 368 rotary rigs active in the comparable period last year.