Two offshore GOM rigs come online
U.S. drilling activity fell this week, according to Baker Hughes’ Weekly Rig Count. Overall, two rigs shut down in the United States in the week, bringing the total number of rigs active in the country to 950. Four land rigs shut down, while two offshore rigs became active. These changes mean there are now 924 land and 23 offshore rigs active in the U.S.
The decrease in overall activity this week affected oil and gas operations equally, with one less rig each. Unusually, directional rigs were the only trajectory to add activity this week, with three rigs coming online. Horizontal rigs, which dominate current operations by a wide margin, saw one rig come offline this week. Vertical drilling activity decreases significantly, with 4 rigs shutting down this week.
Like last week, small changes in overall rig count disguised a large amount of change among individual states this week. Four rigs came online in Louisiana, bringing the total in that state to 71. The rig count in California increased by two, while North Dakota and Utah each added one. One rig shut down in Alaska, and two came offline in New Mexico. The two states with the largest amount of activity, Texas and Oklahoma, each saw three rigs come offline this week.
Multiple changes also occurred among the individual basins tracked by Baker. Two rigs came online in the Haynesville, and one rig each became active in the DJ-Niobrara, Permian and Williston. One rig shut down in the Arkoma Woodford, Barnett and Mississippian. Two rigs went offline in the Eagle Ford.
Unlike the decreasing activity in the U.S., 15 rigs came online in Canada this week. The majority of these wells, 12 out of 15, are targeting oil-bearing formations, while the remaining three target gas.
Source: Baker Hughes
