Total rig count up to 1,032

U.S. drilling activity continued its steady growth this week, as WTI prices came within a few cents of $70/bbl.

Eleven rigs came online this week, meaning the rig count has only decreased once in the past 13 weeks. Thera are now 1,032 rigs drilling in the U.S., the highest rig count since March 2015. A total of 13 land-based rigs came online in the week, while one offshore rig began drilling and three inland waters rigs shut down. This represents a major decrease in inland waters activity, as only two such rigs are now operating. Land-based rigs breached 1,000 for the first time in more than three years this week, as there are now 1,011 land rigs active. With 19 rigs drilling, offshore activity is at the highest level since January.

Operations continued to shift in favor of oil targets, with nine new rigs drilling for oil this week. Only one new rig will target gas, and one is drilling for “miscellaneous” targets. There are 834 oil, 196 gas and two miscellaneous rigs operational in the U.S.

New Mexico, Permian see six new rigs

Horizontal rigs continue to dominate modern operations, as 12 such rigs began drilling. Vertical activity also increased, with three rigs coming online while four directional rigs shut down. Horizontal drilling makes up 88.5% of all active U.S. rigs, the highest proportion ever recorded. A total of 913 horizontal, 64 directional and 55 vertical rigs are operating in the country today.

Activity shifts among individual states were more limited than in previous weeks, as most states saw rig counts hold steady. New Mexico was the major exception to this, adding six new rigs. Two came online in Oklahoma and Texas, while one rig began drilling in Alaska, Florida, Louisiana and North Dakota. The Florida rig is only the second instance of rig activity recorded in the state since 2015, as a rig drilled for three weeks in the state in mid-2017. One rig shut down in Colorado, and two came offline in Mississippi.

Operations continued to concentrate in the Permian, with six rigs coming online in the basin this week. Other basin-specific changes were more limited, as one rig came online in the DJ-Niobrara, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Williston. One rig shut down in the Cana Woodford, while basins too small to be individually tracked by Baker added two rigs.


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