The number of active U.S. rigs rose for the eighth week in a row, according to the Baker Hughes rig count released on Friday.
The U.S. rig count rose by 10 to reach 491 active rigs after hitting a record low of 404 in May. Overall, the U.S. is down 394 rigs from last year’s figures.
For North American operations, Baker Hughes reported 10 new oil rigs with no gas rigs added this week.
For a second week in a row, Texas posted the largest gain, adding 8 rigs last week, bringing the cumulative number of active rigs to 238. A year ago, Texas had 383 rigs.
Pennsylvania posted the second highest gain with two rigs.
Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia gained one rig each while North Dakota lost two active rigs and New Mexico lost one rig for the week.
With a gain of one, Oklahoma’s rig count stands at 62. Overall, Oklahoma’s rig count is down 44 rigs from last year’s count of 106.
Canada lost 5 rigs since last week for a total of 121. Four of those rigs were gas with one listed as miscellaneous and no change for Canada’s oil rigs. In general, Canada remains down 87 rigs when compared with data from a year ago.
International rigs saw a growth of 11 rigs since June, rising to a total of 938. Overall, there are 180 less international rigs when compared with data from last July.
The Permian Basin remains a hotbed for increased oil production. The west Texas and southeastern New Mexico basin saw an increase of 7 rigs for a current total of 196, but is still down by 57 compared to last year’s rig count.
The Cana Woodford area in central and western Oklahoma saw an increase of three rigs for a current total of 32. This covers several areas of interest including Canadian, Grady, Blaine, Caddo, Stephens and McClain counties.
The Marcellus area of West Virginia and Pennsylvania saw a rise of three rigs while the Barnett shale area increased active rigs by one.
Closer to the Canadian border, the Williston areas decreased rig counts by two since last week while the Mississippian play also saw the loss of one rig.
The Granite Wash Basin, covering Beckham, Greer, Kiowa and Washita counties in western Oklahoma, lost one rig for a current total of 9, but is still down by 8 compared to the rig count last year.