In the only decline for the month, the US drilling rig count dropped 2 units to 993 during the week ended Mar. 30, data from Baker Hughes indicate. The report, released a day early due to the start of the long Easter weekend, shows an overall increase of 169 units from year-ago levels.
Offshore units also were down, falling 1 rig to 12 units working in the Gulf of Mexico. A total of 977 rigs were drilling on land, down 2 units from last week (OGJ Online, Mar. 23, 2018). The number of rigs drilling in inland waters was up 1 unit to 4.
Rigs targeting oil were down 7 units to 797, but were up 135 units from the 662 rigs drilling for oil this week a year ago. Gas-targeted rigs were up 4 units to reach 194. This time a year ago, 160 units were drilling for gas.
Among the major oil and gas-producing states, Pennsylvania gained 2 units to reach 42 rigs working, while Oklahoma and Louisiana each gained 1 unit to respective counts of 121 and 58 rigs working.
Seven states were unchanged from last week. These were North Dakota, 53; Colorado, 31; Wyoming, 30; California, 14; Alaska, 9; Utah, 7; and Arkansas, 1.
Texas saw the largest decrease in rigs vs. last week, dropping 3 units to reach 496 rigs working. New Mexico, Ohio, and West Virginia each lost 1 rig to respective counts of 87, 21, and 16.
Canada lost 27 rigs to 134 working from a week ago. There are 21 fewer rigs working than this week a year ago. Oil-directed rigs decreased 22 units this week to 71, while those targeting gas fell 5 units to 63.
