995 rigs currently drilling

U.S. drilling activity continued to rise this week, approaching 1,000 active rigs, according to Baker Hughes Weekly Rig Count.

Five rigs came online in the week, meaning there are now 995 rigs operating in the country. Six land-based rigs became active, while one inland waters rig shut down this week. A total of 979 land, three inland waters and 13 offshore rigs are now drilling in the country.

Activity continued to shift in favor of oil, with four oil-targeting rigs coming online. One gas-targeting rig also became active, meaning there are now 804 and 190 oil and gas rigs, respectively. The single “miscellaneous” rig continued to drill.

Vertical rigs once again outnumber directional, but they are a fraction of horizontal rig count

Activity shifted away from directional drilling this week, as six such rigs came offline. Five horizontal and six vertical rigs came online in the week. There are now 62 directional, 63 vertical and 870 horizontal rigs active in the country. This week breaks the recent unprecedented streak of directional activity exceeding vertical activity. Directional rigs outnumbered verticals from mid-January thorough last week, the only time that has ever occurred over a sustained period.

New rigs in the Permian

Operations shifted heavily in favor of the Permian this week, as rigs flooded into the basin and Texas in general. Seven rigs began operations in Texas this week, while two came online in Alaska and Colorado and one began drilling in Mississippi. One rig shut down in Ohio, two ceased activities in Utah and four came offline in Oklahoma.

All seven new Texas rigs seemed to go straight to the Permian, as seven rigs began drilling in the basin this week. One rig came online in the DJ-Niobrara and Eagle Ford, while one shut down in the Granite Wash, Mississippian and Utica. The only major decrease was seen in the Cana Woodford, where five rigs came offline.


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