US drilling remains virtually flat

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Feb. 19 -- US drilling activity was virtually flat this week, down by 1 unit to 1,345 rotary rigs working, compared with 1,300 units drilling during the same period last year, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

Inland waters activity showed the only change, down by 1 rig with 12 still acting. There were 1,288 land rigs on the job. US offshore was steady with 45 rigs working in US waters, including 43 in the Gulf of Mexico.

Of the US rigs working, 893 were drilling for natural gas, an addition of 2 from the previous week. There were 440 rotary rigs drilling for oil, 3 fewer than the prior week. There were 12 rotary rigs unclassified. Horizontal drilling decreased by 5 to 658. Directional drilling declined 4 to 228.

Among the major producing states, New Mexico and West Virginia were up by 3 rigs each to respective counts of 56 and 26. Louisiana gained 2 to 207. Arkansas’s rig count increased by 1 to 42. Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and California were unchanged at 66, 38, and 25, respectively. North Dakota and Alaska each lost 1 rig with respective totals of 80 and 9. Texas and Colorado were down 2 rigs each to 554 and 50. Oklahoma dropped 3 rigs to 113.

Canada’s rotary rig count increased by 19 to 570, up sharply from the 401 rigs working in the comparable period a year ago.