The active number of drilling rigs in the United States jumped by 11 this week mainly in the Permian Basin, according to weekly data collected by Baker Hughes, a GE company released on Friday.
Despite this week’s jump, the oil rig count is down 48 percent from its peak of 1,609 in October 2014, before oil prices began plummeting. However, rigs today are able to drill more wells than before and to deeper depths to produce more oil and gas, which attributes to why the US is producing record volumes of both crude oil and natural gas nowadays.
Weekly Summary: Rigs engaged in the exploration and production in the U.S. climbed +11 for the week ended May 4, 2018, up to 1032. Land rigs were +13 up to 1011. The offshore rig count picked up +1 to 19. Rigs drilling in the inland waters gained-3for the week, down to 2.
Oil Rig Count: The US crude oil rig count grew by 9 to 834 for the week. There are 131 more rigs targeting oil than last year. Rigs drilling for oil represent 80.8 percent of all drilling activity.
US oil rigs tested an all-time high of 1,609 in October 2014. In contrast, the rigs hit 316 in May 2016—the lowest level since the 1940s.
Natural Gas Rig Count: The natural gas rig count – which plunged to its lowest last August – climbed +1 at 196. The number of rigs drilling for gas is 23 higher than last year’s level of 173.
Among major oil- and gas-producing states, New Mexico added six rigs and Oklahoma and
Texas each gained two. Alaska, Louisiana and North Dakota added one apiece.
Colorado declined by one.
Arkansas, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming were unchanged.
Summary of Major Plays – Ranked By Rig Count
– Permian Basin 458 rigs compared to last week’s 452 rigs
– Eagle Ford 76 rigs compared to last week’s 75 rigs
– Cana Woodford 69 rigs compared to last week’s 70 rigs
– Williston 57 rigs compared to last week’s 56 rigs
– Marcellus 54 rigs compared to last week’s 54 rigs
– Haynesville 54 rigs compared to last week’s 53 rigs
– DJ-Niobrara 22 rigs compared to last week’s 21 rigs
– Utica 25 rigs compared to last week’s 25 rigs
– Granite Wash 11 rigs compared to last week’s 11 rigs
– Arkoma Woodford 9 rigs compared to last week’s 9 rigs
For more details on the latest national and state news regarding last Friday’s Baker Hughes rig count data, check out the interactive rig count dashboard here on the Oklahoma Index tab of our website.
Thank you for your continued support and keep an eye out for this week’s recap on Friday Snippets!
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.
