US drilling rig count falls below 2,000 units

US oil and gas drilling rig activity last week fell again this week, down 7 units to reach a total of 1,993 rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Dec. 2 was up by 280 units from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Dec. 2, 2011
2 min read

US oil and gas drilling rig activity last week fell again this week, down 7 units to reach a total of 1,993 rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Dec. 2 was up by 280 units from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

The bulk of the decrease was in land operations with a decline of 10 rotary rigs to 1,931 drilling. Inland waters activity held steady for 3 weeks at 20 rigs working. Offshore drilling gained 3 units to 42 active.

Of the US rigs working, 1,132 were drilling for oil, up 2 rigs compared with a week ago. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Dec. 2 lost 9 units, to 856. There were 5 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from the previous week.

Directional drilling activity up 4 units, reaching 217 rigs working. Horizontal drilling was up 1 rig to 1,156.

Among the top producing US states, Oklahoma and North Dakota were up 1 unit each to 198 and 188 rigs working, respectively. Unchanged from last week were Wyoming, 52; California, 48; Arkansas, 35; West Virginia, 25; and Alaska, 6. Down 1 rig each were Pennsylvania and New Mexico with respective counts of 112 and 77. Louisiana was down 2 rigs to 156. Texas and Colorado, meanwhile, were down 4 units each to respective counts of 902 and 77.

Canada’s rig count was unchanged from a week ago at 484 rigs working, which was up 35 units from the same period last year.

About the Author

Steven Poruban

Managing Editor-News

Steven Poruban was hired as staff writer for Oil & Gas Journal in October 1998. Two years later, he was promoted to senior staff writer. In October 2004, he was then promoted to senior editor. He now serves as managing editor-news.

Before working for OGJ, Steven was a reporter for Gas Daily and editor of Gas Transportation Report. He attended Boston University then transferred to and graduated from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., with a BA in English in 1993.

Sign up for Oil & Gas Journal Newsletters