US drilling rig count falls 11 units

Feb. 3, 2012
US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week fell by 11 units to 1,997 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 3 was up by 258 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

US oil and gas drilling rig activity this week fell by 11 units to 1,997 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 3 was up by 258 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

All of the loss was in land drilling operations, which were down 11 units this week to 1,938 rigs working. There were 42 rigs drilling offshore, unchanged from a week ago. All of these were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 17, unchanged from last week.

Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil made a 20-unit jump from a week ago to reach 1,245 rigs. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Feb. 3 lost 32 rigs to reach 745 units. There were 7 rotary rigs unclassified, up 1 unit from the previous week.

At 217 rigs, directional drilling activity was unchanged this week. Horizontal drilling decreased by 11 rigs to a total of 1,174 working.

Louisiana had the biggest loss this week, down 7 units to 135 rigs working. Texas and Alaska were down 3 rigs each to respective counts of 914 and 8. New Mexico, at 81, and California, at 44, were each down 1 rig from a week ago. Unchanged were: Pennsylvania, 114; Arkansas, 34; and West Virginia, 27. North Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming were up 1 rig each to 183, 72, and 49, respectively. Oklahoma, up 2 units, topped out at 205 rigs working.

Canada’s rig count shot up another 28 units from a week ago, reaching 710. This is up 84 units from the same period a year ago.