US drilling rig count declines 16 units to 1,968
US oil and gas drilling activity this week declined by 16 units to 1,968 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Mar. 23 was up by 230 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were down 21 units this week to 1,899 rigs working. There were 46 rigs drilling offshore—all of which in the Gulf of Mexico—an increase of 3 rigs from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 23, up 2 units from last week (OGJ Online, Mar. 16, 2012).
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil took a 4-unit plunge from a week ago to rest at 1,313 rigs. Rigs targeting for gas for the week ended Mar. 23 fell another 11 rigs to reach 652 units working. There were 3 rotary rigs unclassified, down 1 unit from the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported 231 rigs doing directional drilling, an increase of 3 units from a week ago. Horizontal drilling declined by 6 rigs to a total of 1,174 units working.
Of the top producing states, Texas lost 11 units to reach 915 rigs working. Oklahoma, at 197, was down 10 rigs from a week ago. Pennsylvania was off 3 rigs to 98 units working. Down 1 rig each were North Dakota, 196; Wyoming, 42; and Alaska, 6. Colorado and West Virginia were both unchanged from last week, reaching 67 and 28, respectively. California, at 45, and Ohio, at 11, both added a rig to their counts. New Mexico reached 83 units, up 2, which Louisiana gained 9 rigs to reach 140 units working.
Canada’s rig count declined another 165 units from a week ago, reaching 352. This is down 77 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.
