Without a doubt, the Permian Basin is the most active of all oil and gas plays in the U.S. and it was evidenced this week by the latest Baker Hughes Co. rig report which showed there are 304 active rigs in the play.
How active? Consider this—the second most active oil and gas play, the Eagle Ford in south Texas, has 49 active rigs following an increase of one in the past week. It’s why the big oil and gas firms with a nose for money, including those from Oklahoma, go to the Permian in search of their black treasure.
Who’s next? The Williston in North and South Dakota had 34 rigs, unchanged from a week earlier. Tied with the Williston is the Haynesville in east Texas and across Louisiana where the count remained at 34 rigs.
The Marcellus count fell by two to 23 rigs. The Ardmore Woodford added a rig to reach 2 while the Arkoma Woodford saw no change with its 2 active rigs. The Cana Woodford count grew by 2 to reach 20. The D-J Basin in Colorado and southern Wyoming stayed at 8 rigs.
The Granite Wash was unchanged with 4 rigs and the Mississippian continued for another week with no reported rig activity—at least according to the Baker Hughes report.
The Utica stayed at 9 active rigs.
