US drilling increases 12 straight weeks

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 27 -- US drilling activity continued increasing for the 12th consecutive week with 1,656 rotary rigs working, 5 more than the previous week and up sharply from 999 during the comparable period in 2009, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

All of this week’s increase was in land operations with 1,622 units drilling, 6 more than the previous week. Inland waters activity was unchanged at 14 rigs. Offshore drilling declined by 1 rig with 20 still working, all in the Gulf of Mexico.

Of the US rigs working this week, 973 were drilling for natural gas, 12 fewer than the previous week. The number drilling for oil increased by 17 to 672 units. There were 11 rotary rigs unclassified. Horizontal drilling was up by 9 to 904 rotary rigs. Directional drilling increased by 8 to 225.

Among the major producing states, Texas had the biggest increase in its rig count, up 13 to 729 drilling. Louisiana, Colorado, and Alaska expanded by 1 rig each to respective counts of 185, 67, and 6. Pennsylvania, California, and West Virginia were unchanged at 89, 35, and 24, respectively. North Dakota lost 1 rig with 131 still drilling, while Wyoming was down 2 to 40. New Mexico and Arkansas were down 3 rigs each to 64 and 37, in that order. Oklahoma’s rig count fell by 5 to 137.

Canada’s rotary rig count increased by 7 units to 386 drilling, compared with 184 rigs working in the same period last year.