US drilling rig count falls another 3 units

There were a total of 1,980 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, down by 3 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended June 1 was up by 126 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Land drilling operations were down by 2 units to 1,911 rigs working. There were 48 rigs drilling offshore—47 of which drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which was unchanged from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 21, down 1 rig from last week (OGJ Online, May 25, 2012).

Rigs drilling for oil in the US increased by 3 units from a week ago to reach 1,386. Rigs targeting gas for the week ended June 1 decreased by 6 rigs to reach 588. There were 6 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week.

Baker Hughes reported 217 rigs conducting directional drilling, which was down 5 units from last week. Horizontal drilling decreased by 8 units to reach a total of 1,183 rigs.

Of the top producing states, Oklahoma was down 7 rigs to 192. Louisiana and Pennsylvania, at 126 and 85, were down 2 rigs each. West Virginia, at 23, and Alaska, at 7, were down 1 rig each. Three states were unchanged from last week, namely Colorado, 70; Wyoming, 39; and Arkansas, 22. Adding 1 rig each were North Dakota, 203; New Mexico, 88; and California, 51. Texas, reaching 932, was up by 6 rigs.

Canada’s rig count decreased by 2 rigs from a week ago, reaching 156. This is down 28 units from the same period a year ago.

Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].