US drilling activity increased slightly with 771 rotary rigs working this week, 2 more than the previous week, and up from 229 units in the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes reported.

Land operations activity increased with a 1-rig gain to reach 753 rigs active. Offshore drilling increased by 1 to 15 rigs working, 14 in the Gulf of Mexico, which saw an increase of a single rig. Inland waters activity was unchanged at 3 units drilling.

Of the US rigs working, 157 were drilling for natural gas, unchanged from the previous week. The number of rigs drilling for oil increased by 2 to 612. Horizontal drilling increased by 3 units to 708. Directional drilling was unchanged at 41, and vertical drilling saw a single unit decrease to 22.

Texas had the biggest rig count increase. With 6 additional rigs, there were 371 rigs drilling in the state this week. Colorado saw a 2-unit increase to reach 22 rigs working. Wyoming's rig count increased by a single unit to reach 23 working for the week.

New Mexico, Louisiana, and Utah saw rig counts decrease this week. With 105 rigs working, New Mexico’s rig count is 4 fewer than the previous week, while Louisiana and Utah each dropped a single rig to reach respective counts of 62 and 12.

Canada’s rotary rig count decreased by 6 to 210 units, compared with 164 active rigs in the comparable period last year. Of the rigs working this week, 144 were drilling for oil, down 6 units from last week, and 66 were drilling for gas, unchanged from last week.