US drilling rig rises by 8 units to 1,989
US oil and gas drilling activity this week increased by 8 units to 1,989 total rigs working. The rig count for the week ended Mar. 2 was up by 282 rigs from the comparable period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Land drilling operations were up 6 units this week to 1,929 rigs working. There were 40 rigs drilling offshore, an decrease of 3 rigs from the previous week. All of these rigs were drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 20, up 5 units from last week.
Of the US rigs working, rigs drilling for oil made a 28-unit jump from a week ago to reach 1,293 rigs. Rigs drilling for gas for the week ended Mar. 2 lost 19 rigs to reach 691 units. There were 5 rotary rigs unclassified, down 1 unit from the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported 215 rigs doing directional drilling, up 5 units. Horizontal drilling increased by 5 rigs to a total of 1,170 working.
Texas and North Dakota had the biggest gains this week of the top producing states, up 6 units each to 926 and 193 rigs working, respectively. Oklahoma was up 3 units to 201 rigs working. Three states made 1-rig climbs this week. These were New Mexico, 82; Wyoming, 46; and California, 44. Four states were unchanged this week: Pennsylvania, 105; Arkansas, 29; West Virginia, 29; and Alaska, 9. Louisiana lost 3 rigs this week to reach 136 units, while Colorado was off 4 units to 65 rigs working.
Canada’s rig count declined by 20 units from a week ago, reaching 681. This is up 56 units from the same period a year ago.
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.
