US drilling activity is up this week as the industry added 9 rigs for a total of 767 units now working, up from 473 in the comparable week a year ago, Baker Hughes reported.
Land operations had the biggest increase, up 8 rigs to 746 drilling. Offshore drilling increased by 1 rig to 17 working this week, 15 in the Gulf of Mexico. Inland waters activity was unchanged with 4 rotary rigs running.
Of the US rigs working, 605 were drilling for oil, 6 more than the previous week. The number drilling for gas increased by 2 to 157. There were 5 rotary rigs unclassified, up 1 from last week. Horizontal drilling was up by 10 units to 697. Directional drilling dropped 2 to 38.
Texas registered the biggest increase among major producing states this week with a jump of 6 to 371 rotary rigs drilling. Nearby, the rig count in New Mexico increased by 1 to 110. Also gaining a single rig each were Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, reaching respective rig counts of 65, 64, and 25.
West Virginia’s rig count dropped 2 units to hit 12 rigs working for the week.
Canada’s rotary rig count increased by 9 to 204 units drilling, up from 153 in the same period last year.