The US drilling rig count decreased by 7 units during the week ended Apr. 11 to reach a total of 583 rotary rigs working, Baker Hughes Inc. reported. That compares with 617 rigs working in the comparable week last year.
Land-based drilling decreased by 6 units from a week ago to 567 rigs working. Offshore drilling decreased by 1 unit to 13 rigs working. Inland water drilling, at 3 rigs, was unchanged from a week ago. Of the rigs drilling offshore, 11 were in the Gulf of Mexico, a decrease of 1 unit from a week ago.
Rigs targeting natural gas increased by 1 unit to 97. Those rigs targeting oil, meanwhile, decreased by 9 to 480. There were 6 rigs considered unclassified, up 1 unit from a week ago.
Rigs drilling directionally were reported at 46, down 2 units from a week ago and 5 fewer than the comparable week last year. Rigs drilling horizontally fell 6 units to 523. This compared with 554 rigs working horizontally in the comparable week a year ago.
Of the major oil and gas producing states, Texas was down 3 rigs to 274. West Virginia and California were each down 2 units to reach respective counts of 9 and 6. New Mexico was off 1 unit to 100.
Canada’s rig count slumped this week, down 15 units to 138. This count includes 91 rigs drilling for oil (down 8 units from a week ago) and 47 units drilling for gas (down 7 from a week ago). The total was down 3 units from the comparable week last year.