The numbers are startling and reflect what’s happened to the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma and the rest of the U.S. as oil and gas are stockpiled in storage with drillers hoping for a dramatic change in the crisis.
Oklahoma has only 15 working rigs as of this week after the count fell by 5. A year ago, the state had 103 working rigs in the various oil plays of Oklahoma.
Nationally, the count, according to Baker Hughes, fell by 57 in the past week, hitting a total of 408 rigs. The number of oil rigs declined by 53, leaving only 325 across the U.S. The total of gas rigs fell by four to 81.
A year ago, the U.S. had 990 rigs but as of this week, the number is down 582, including a decline of 482 oil rigs and 102 gas rigs.
Canada has only 27 working rigs this week.
Oklahoma’s rig count compares to Texas where the number of rigs fell by 30 in the past week, leaving 201 in the oil and gas patch. A year ago, there were 484 working rigs in Texas.
Colorado lost seven this week and now there are only eight working rigs in the state, a far cry from the 33 reported a year ago.
Kansas added four rigs to reach eight this week according to the Red Top Rig Report published by the Independent Oil and Gas Service which also reported the state now has 194 inactive rigs.
Louisiana’s count fell by one to 39, down from 62 a year ago. New Mexico lost four rigs and now has only 66 in the field while a year ago, there were 106 rigs.
North Dakota, a state that had 57 a year ago, dropped one this week leaving only 26 working rigs. Wyoming had 32 rigs a year ago but lost two more this week and has only four rigs.
The Permian Basin, located in West Texas and southeast New Mexico has 219 working rigs after it lost 27 in the past week. A year ago, the Basin had 459 working rigs.
The Mississippian in Oklahoma and southern Kansas has no rigs to report while the Granite Wash in western Oklahoma remained at only two rigs.
The Eagle Ford in South Texas dropped by five to 30 rigs while the D-J Basin in Colorado declined by eight, leaving only 7 rigs.
Oklahoma’s Arkoma Woodford still has no working rigs while the Ardmore Woodford is unchanged at four.