Overall activity hovers around 1,050
Drilling activity in the U.S. declined this week as activity continues to hover around 1,050 active rigs, according to Baker Hughes Weekly Rig Count.
Six land-based rigs shut down this week, and two offshore rigs also came offline. Inland waters activity was flat, so the overall U.S. rig count declined by eight this week.
There are 1,024 land, five inland waters and 17 offshore rigs active in the country, 1,046 in total. Drilling activity in the U.S. has shown little net change since early May, rising to 1,062 then returning to around 1,045.
Source: EnerCom Analytics
This week’s decline was distributed proportionately among different targets. Five oil-targeting, two gas and one miscellaneous rig all shut down this week. This leaves 858 oil, 187 gas and one miscellaneous rig active in the U.S.
8 horizontals shut down this week
Operations significantly shifted away from horizontal drilling, as eight such rigs shut down this week. One directional rig also came offline, while one vertical rig began drilling. Horizontal drilling continues to dominate overall activity though, as 88.1% of all rigs are drilling horizontal wells.
New Mexico attracting more Permian rigs
Permian drilling continues to shift to the New Mexico side of the basin, as the state added four rigs this week. With 103 rigs currently active in the state, New Mexico activity has reached the highest level seen in the basin since at least 2000. New Mexico has seen 103 rigs in the state only twice before, in late 2014. The rise of New Mexico drilling has been entirely fueled by the Permian, only three rigs in the state are drilling in other basins. Activity in New Mexico has increased nearly eightfold since the downturn, as rig counts bottomed out at only 13 in early 2016.
Only two other states saw rig counts increase, Ohio and Wyoming, where one rig came online. One rig shut down in Alaska, Nevada North Dakota and West Virginia, while two came offline in Louisiana, three stopped drilling in Oklahoma and five shut down in Texas.
Permian was flat
Despite the four new rigs in New Mexico, the total number of rigs in the Permian was flat this week. Two began drilling in the Cana Woodford and one started operations in the Utica. One shut down in the Arkoma Woodford, Barnett, Marcellus and Williston, while three stopped drilling in the Granite Wash.
