Drilling activity in the Appalachian region of the U.S. is at its highest level since 2019 and two Oklahoma firms are among the most active operators.
Chesapeake Energy has five rigs according to Enverus Rig Analytics which released its nationwide rig count this week. Ascent Resources Utica is one of five operators running with four rigs. A total of 57 rigs are running in Appalachia, an increase of five over the past month.
Enverus reported the U.S. rig count increased by six over the past week to reach 780 rigs as of May 4. The company stated that activity levels were up 4% in the last month and 48% compared to a year ago.
The count reached as high as 795 in the last week, which was up by 12 compared to the prior week’s peak. The Permian was down three rigs, while the DJ Basin was up two and Appalachia up one.
The largest increases over the past month included six in the Williston where numbers jumped to 38; the Appalachian where the count gained five to reach 57; and the DJ Basin which saw a gain of five rigs for a total of 20.
In the DJ Basin, there haven’t been this many rigs running since late March 2020. And in the Williston Basin, there were as many as 39 rigs running in the last week, a level last seen in early April 2020.