There were a total of 1,984 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, up by 4 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended June 8 was up by 129 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were up by 3 units to 1,914 rigs working. There were 49 rigs drilling offshore—48 of which drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which was up 1 rig from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 21, unchanged from last week (OGJ Online, June 1, 2012).
Rigs drilling for oil in the US sored by 28 units from a week ago to reach 1,414. Rigs targeting gas for the week ended June 8 plunged by 23 rigs to reach 565. There were 5 rotary rigs unclassified, down 1 unit from last week.
In a June 4 industry brief, analysts at Raymond James & Associates Inc. noted, “We expect the [US] oil rig count will trend higher for the remainder of the year while gas rig count declines should persist, resulting in a net overall gain to the total [US] rig count.”
Baker Hughes reported 235 rigs conducting directional drilling, which was up 18 units from last week. Horizontal drilling decreased by 6 units to reach a total of 1,177 rigs.
Of the top producing states, Colorado was up 4 rigs to 74, and Louisiana was up 3 units to 129. Four states—Texas, Oklahoma, California, and Ohio—gained 2 rigs each with respective counts of 934, 194, 53, and 21. There were 6 states unchanged this week: North Dakota, 203; New Mexico, 88; Pennsylvania, 85; Wyoming, 39; West Virginia, 23; and Alaska, 7. Arkansas fell by 1 rig to 21 units working.
Canada’s rig count increased by 74 rigs from a week ago, reaching 230. This is down 2 units from the same period a year ago.
Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].