US drilling rig count slips 3 units
There were a total of 1,983 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, down by 3 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended May 25 was up by 136 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were down by 4 units to 1,913 rigs working. There were 48 rigs drilling offshore—47 of which drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which was up 1 rig from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 22, unchanged from last week (OGJ Online, May 18, 2012).
Rigs drilling for oil in the US increased by 1 unit from a week ago to reach 1,383. Rigs targeting gas for the week ended May 25 decreased by 6 rigs to reach 594. There were 6 rotary rigs unclassified, up 2 units from last week.
Baker Hughes reported 222 rigs conducting directional drilling, which was down 5 units from last week. Horizontal drilling decreased by 2 units to reach a total of 1,191 rigs.
Of the top producing states, Texas was down 8 rigs to 926. Pennsylvania, at 87, was down 4 from a week ago. Oklahoma and New Mexico each lost 2 rigs to reach respective counts of 199 and 87. Wyoming was off by 1 rig to 39. Three states were unchanged this week: Louisiana, 128; West Virginia, 24; and Arkansas, 22. California and Ohio, at 50 and 18, respectively, were up 1 rig each. Alaska was up 2 rigs to 8; North Dakota was up 4 rigs to 202; and Colorado was up 5 rigs to 70.
Canada’s rig count increased by 35 rigs from a week ago, reaching 158. This is down 21 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.
