Oklahoma held steady for another week in its oil and gas rig activity, according to the latest Baker Hughes Rig Count released on Friday. The state’s total remained at 43 active rigs, which was the same number reported a year ago.
Nationally, there was a decrease of one, leaving the total of 543. The oil rig count grew one to 410 while the number of gas-drilling rigs declined two to 122. The miscellaneous count remained at 11 and the offshore count was unchanged at 16.
Texas recorded a loss of 2 leaving the state’s total at 228 while New Mexico’s count grew by 2 to 102. North Dakota remained at 26 and the count in Louisiana declined one to 39 rigs.
The Red Top Rig Report based in Wichita, showed the Kansas rig total was unchanged at 14 but the state’s total rig numbers are down nearly 18% from a year ago. Colorado remained at 12 and Alaska’s count of 9 was unchanged. California continued with 8 rigs and Ohio remained at 14 rigs.
The rig count in Pennsylvania was the same as last week at 18. Utah also saw no change with 17 total rigs. West Virginia’s total of 7 rigs was unchanged and Wyoming remained at 15 active rigs.
Compared to a year ago when the rig count was 580, the current U.S. number is down 37. The decrease included a drop of 68 oil rigs while there was an increase of 24 gas rigs and a gain of 7 miscellaneous rigs.
The most recent rig count breakdown showed a total of 122 gas rigs in the past week, a decline of 2 from the previous week. Compared to a year ago when there was a total of 98, the gas rig numbers were still up by 24. Baker Hughes reported the number of oil drilling rigs increased one to 410, but the latest count is still 68 below the 478 reported last year at this time.
A stunning aspect of the Baker Hughes rig count was the surge in oil and gas drilling in Canada. It showed an increase of 29 rigs, finishing with a total this past week of 226 rigs.