This week’s Enverus report showed a gain of 11 oil and gas rigs nationally to reach a total of 871 for the week ended Dec. 21.
The count is down 2% in the last month but up 22% in the last year. All numbers discussed are weekly peaks to avoid the sometimes wide variability of daily numbers.
In the last week, the Permian and DJ basins tallied increases—up by six rigs to 333 and by one to 22—while the Gulf Coast and Williston Basin were flat at 118 and 41 rigs. The Anadarko Basin fell by three rigs to 84, and Appalachia dropped one to 55.
The Permian’s 333 rigs mark a high point it has reached twice before in 2022 but hasn’t surpassed since April 2020, early in the pandemic. The Williston and DJ highs this year of 45 and 23 rigs matched rig levels last seen in March 2020.
Returning to levels similar to 3Q19, the Anadarko peaked at 91 rigs, Appalachia at 61 and the Gulf Coast at 121. The U.S. 2022 high was 897 rigs, which hadn’t been seen since October 2019.
