US oil and gas drilling activity this week increased by 5 units to 1,994 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Feb. 17 was up by 281 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were up 6 units this week to 1,938 rigs working. There were 41 rigs drilling offshore, an increase of 1 rig from the previous week. All of these rigs were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 15, down 2 units from last week.
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil made an 9-unit jump from a week ago to reach 1,272 rigs. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Feb. 17 lost 4 rigs to reach 716 units. There were 6 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported 216 rigs doing directional drilling, up 1 unit. Horizontal drilling decreased by 8 rigs to a total of 1,163 working.
Texas had the biggest gain this week of the top producing states, up 5 units to 914 rigs working. Louisiana was up 2 units to 138 rigs working. Five states made 1-rig climbs this week. These were Oklahoma, 208; North Dakota, 185; Wyoming, 49; West Virginia, 29; and Alaska, 10. California, at 43 rigs working, was unchanged from a week ago.
Losing 1 rig was New Mexico, with 83 units working. Colorado and Arkansas were down 2 units each, reaching 69 and 29, respectively. Pennsylvania saw a 3-rig loss, with 108 units drilling.
Canada’s rig count declined by 4 units from a week ago, reaching 705. This is up 69 units from the same period a year ago.