US drilling rig count falls 16 units
US oil and gas drilling activity this week decreased by 16 units to 1,973 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Mar. 9 was up by 258 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were down 15 units this week to 1,914 rigs working. There were 41 rigs drilling offshore, an increase of 1 rig from the previous week. All of these rigs were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 18, down 2 units from last week (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2012).
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil made a 3-unit jump from a week ago to reach 1,296 rigs. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Mar. 9 plunged by 21 rigs to reach 670 units working. There were 7 rotary rigs unclassified, up 2 units from the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported 212 rigs doing directional drilling, down 3 units. Horizontal drilling decreased by 6 rigs to a total of 1,164 units working.
Of the top producing states, Oklahoma lost 6 units to reach 195 rigs working. Pennsylvania was down 4 units to 101. Alaska was off by 3 rigs to 6; Colorado was down 2 rigs to 63. New Mexico, Wyoming, and West Virginia were down 1 rig each to counts of 81, 45, and 28, respectively. California, at 44, and Arkansas, at 29, were unchanged from a week ago. Louisiana gained 1 rig to 137. Texas and North Dakota gained 3 rigs each to respective counts of 929 and 196 units working.
Canada’s rig count declined by 26 units from a week ago, reaching 655. This is up 27 units from the same period a year ago.
Contact Steven Poruban at [email protected].
Steven Poruban | Managing Editor-News
Steven Poruban was hired as staff writer for Oil & Gas Journal in October 1998. Two years later, he was promoted to senior staff writer. In October 2004, he was then promoted to senior editor. He now serves as managing editor-news.
Before working for OGJ, Steven was a reporter for Gas Daily and editor of Gas Transportation Report. He attended Boston University then transferred to and graduated from Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., with a BA in English in 1993.
