US drilling rig count slips 3 units

May 25, 2012
There were a total of 1,983 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, down by 3 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended May 25 was up by 136 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

There were a total of 1,983 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, down by 3 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended May 25 was up by 136 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Land drilling operations were down by 4 units to 1,913 rigs working. There were 48 rigs drilling offshore—47 of which drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which was up 1 rig from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 22, unchanged from last week (OGJ Online, May 18, 2012).

Rigs drilling for oil in the US increased by 1 unit from a week ago to reach 1,383. Rigs targeting gas for the week ended May 25 decreased by 6 rigs to reach 594. There were 6 rotary rigs unclassified, up 2 units from last week.

Baker Hughes reported 222 rigs conducting directional drilling, which was down 5 units from last week. Horizontal drilling decreased by 2 units to reach a total of 1,191 rigs.

Of the top producing states, Texas was down 8 rigs to 926. Pennsylvania, at 87, was down 4 from a week ago. Oklahoma and New Mexico each lost 2 rigs to reach respective counts of 199 and 87. Wyoming was off by 1 rig to 39. Three states were unchanged this week: Louisiana, 128; West Virginia, 24; and Arkansas, 22. California and Ohio, at 50 and 18, respectively, were up 1 rig each. Alaska was up 2 rigs to 8; North Dakota was up 4 rigs to 202; and Colorado was up 5 rigs to 70.

Canada’s rig count increased by 35 rigs from a week ago, reaching 158. This is down 21 units from the same period a year ago.

Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].