North America rig count unchanged as US drop offsets Canada’s gain

US drilling activity fell this week, down 2 units to 619 rotary rigs still working, said Baker Hughes. The drop offset Canada’s 2-rig gain that brought the country to a total of 232 rigs running for the week ended Feb. 2.

The US count is down 140 from the same time last year, while Canada’s year-over-year count is down by 17 units.

In the US, land operations were down by 2 rigs to 600. Rig counts for offshore and inland water operations remained unchanged at 19 and 0 rigs working, respectively.

Of the rotary rigs working in the US, there were 499 drilling for oil this week, unchanged from the previous week. Those drilling for natural gas were down by 2 to 117. There were 3 rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week.

Among the major producing states, two states dropped rigs this week, namely Texas and New Mexico. With respective rig counts of 303 and 98, both states ended the week with a single-unit drop. 

None of the major producing states increased rig counts this week.

The global rig count for January was 1,784, up from the 1,739 units drilling in December 2023, but down from the 1,899 rigs working during the same period a year ago. Excluding the US and Canada, the international rig count for January increased by 10 units from December 2023 to 965.