US drilling activity was little changed from a week ago, down just 2 units with 583 rotary rigs working the week ended Aug. 30. This compares with 631 rigs drilling in the same period last year, said Baker Hughes Inc.
The loss was in land operations, down three units to 563 still active. Drilling in inland waters increased to 1 operating rig. Offshore drilling was unchanged with 19 rigs working in US waters, including 17 in the Gulf of Mexico.
Of those rigs working, 483 were drilling for oil, unchanged from the previous week. There were 95 rotary rigs drilling for natural gas, 2 fewer than last week. There were 5 rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week. Directional drilling was up 1 unit to 48. Horizontal drilling decreased by 3 rigs to 521. With 14 units running, vertical rigs were unchanged for this week.
Among the major producing states, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, saw weekly rig count increases. With 274 rigs running, Texas was unchanged for the week. There were 32 fewer rigs operating in Texas than was the case 1 year ago and, at 305, 14 fewer operating in the Permian basin. Oklahoma added 1 rig to increase its count to 39. Pennsylvania dropped 3 rigs to end the week with 18 rigs working.
The Canadian rig count increased by 1 to 220 rotary rigs working, up 33 from the year-ago period.