December 3, 2009

 Drilling activity in the US increased for the sixth consecutive week, up by 24 rotary rigs to 1,137 working. This is still below the 1,866 units drilling during the comparable week a year ago, reported Baker Hughes Inc.

The increase was due to land operations, which was up by 25 units to 1,089 units drilling. Inland waters activity was unchanged with 13 rigs working. US offshore declined by 1 rig to 33 in the Gulf of Mexico and a total of 35 rigs in US waters.

Of the US rigs working, 748 were drilling for natural gas, up 4 units from the previous week. The number drilling for oil increased by 4 to 379. There were 10 rotary rigs unclassified. Horizontal drilling jumped by 8 rigs to 539. Directional drilling dropped 1 unit to 188.

Texas had the biggest gain among the major producing states, up 11 rigs to 452 drilling. Colorado gained 10 to 41. Oklahoma increased by 7 rigs to 86. Arkansas, New Mexico, and North Dakota all gained 1 rig each to reach respective counts of 40, 47, and 59. California was unchanged this week at 24 units drilling. Alaska and Wyoming both lost 1 rig to 8 and 38 rigs working, respectively. Down 3 units was Louisiana, with 169 rigs working this week.

In other states of interest, Pennsylvania’s rig count increased by 1 to 64. West Virginia also gained 1 to 22. Utah lost 1 rig with 18 now working.

Canada’s rotary rig count increased by 24 to 317 this week, compared with 406 rigs working in the same period last year.

From: Oil & Gas Journal