Rig Count On Fire Over Last 90 Days
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States totaled 566, up by a 15 compared from the prior week and up 68 compared with a total of 498 a year ago. The natural gas rig count increased by three to a total of 145. The count for natural gas rigs is now up by 24 year over year. These numbers, combined with the 1 miscellaneous rig count, now add up to 712 working rigs in the country, up by 18 week over week and up by 93 year over year.
LAST 90 DAYS
In the last 90 days, the total US rig count has been on fire, gaining 20%, going from 569 on November 4, 2016, to the current number of 712, reached on Friday. The largest portion of this gain is seen in the HZ portion of the rig count, which went from 459 to 579, over the same time period.
The largest gains last week were once again found in the Permian Basin, which has quickly become the premier basin for E&P operators in the United States. The region added ten rigs over the course of the week, bringing the total to 291, up 109 from this time last year. The Permian remains the most active basin in the country by a large margin with the next-most active region, the Eagle Ford, having just 54 active rigs.
Analysts at US financial services firm Cowen said in a note this week that its capital expenditure tracking showed 30 exploration and production (E&P) companies planned to increase spending by an average of 35% in 2017 over 2016. That spending increase in 2017 followed an estimated 48% decline in 2016 and a 34% decline in 2015, Cowen said, according to the 65 E&P companies it tracks.
Check out our proprietary and interactive Rig Count Dashboard at OklahomaMinerals.com
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Compiled and Published by GIB KNIGHT
Gib Knight is a private oil and gas investor and consultant, providing clients advanced analytics and building innovative visual business intelligence solutions to visualize the results, across a broad spectrum of regulatory filings and production data in Oklahoma and Texas. He is the founder of OklahomaMinerals.com, an online resource designed for mineral owners in Oklahoma. ☞Email:g.knight@oklahomaminerals.com
