US drilling rig count gains 12 units to reach 1,986
There were a total of 1,986 oil and gas drilling rigs working in the US this week, up by 12 units from last week. The rig count for the week ended May 18 was up by 156 rigs compared with the same period a year ago, Baker Hughes Inc. reported.
Nearly all of this gain was in land drilling operations, which was up 10 units to 1,917 rigs working. There were 47 rigs drilling offshore—46 of which drilling in the Gulf of Mexico—which was up 2 rigs from the previous week. Rigs drilling in inland waters totaled 22, unchanged from last week (OGJ Online, May 11, 2012).
Rigs drilling for oil in the US increased by 10 units from a week ago to reach 1,382. Rigs targeting gas for the week ended May 18 increased by 2 rigs to reach 600. There were 4 rotary rigs unclassified, unchanged from last week.
Baker Hughes reported 227 rigs conducting directional drilling, which was down 1 unit from last week. Horizontal drilling increased by 6 units to reach a total of 1,193 rigs.
Of the top producing states, New Mexico was up 3 rigs to 89. California and West Virginia, at 49 and 24, respectively, were each up 2 rigs. There were four states that gained 1 rig each, namely North Dakota, 198; Colorado, 65; Ohio, 17; and Alaska, 6. Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Wyoming remained unchanged this week with respective counts of 934, 201, 128, and 40. Arkansas, at 22 rigs, was down 1 unit; Pennsylvania lost 4 units to reach 91 rigs working.
Canada’s rig count increases by 3 rigs from a week ago, reaching 123. This is down 20 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.
