US drilling rig count unchanged at 1,979 units
US oil and gas drilling activity this week remained unchanged at 1,979 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Apr. 6 was up by 197 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were up 2 units this week to 1,912 rigs working. There were 44 rigs drilling offshore—all of which in the Gulf of Mexico—which was down 2 units from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 23, unchanged from last week (OGJ Online, Mar. 30, 2012).
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil gained 11 units from a week ago to reach 1,329. Rigs targeting for gas for the week ended Apr. 6 decreased by 11 rigs to reach 647 units working. There were 3 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week.
Baker Hughes reported 231 rigs doing directional drilling, a decrease of 2 units from a week ago. Horizontal drilling decreased by 15 rigs to a total of 1,165 units working.
Of the top producing states, Oklahoma gained 4 units to 202 rigs working. Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Alaska were up 2 units each to respective counts of 102, 85, and 10. Texas, at 923, and Ohio, at 12, were both up 1 unit from last week. There were three states unchanged this week: California, 45; Wyoming, 41; and Arkansas, 26. North Dakota, at 197, was down 1 rig. Louisiana and Colorado, with respective counts of 135 and 64, were down 2 units each. West Virgina was down 6 units to 22 rigs working.
Canada’s rig count declined another 69 units from a week ago, reaching 187. This is down 4 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.