In its weekly release, Houston-based oilfield services player Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), reported a fall in oil and natural gas rig count in the United States.
Details
Weekly Summary: Rigs engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the United States totaled 936 in the week ended Oct 6 – lower than the prior week’s 940. This marked a decline in rig count for seven times in the last 10 weeks.
Since it slipped to an all-time low of 404 last May, rig count has been rising rapidly in U.S. shale resources. Punctuated by a few pauses, the current nationwide rig count is considerably higher than the prior-year level of 524.
For the week in discussion, the decline in rig count can be attributed to decreased onshore and inland waters operations. The count of rigs engaged in offshore works was reported at 22, in line with the earlier week count.
Oil Rig Count: Oil rig count slipped by two to 748. It is to be noted that the rigs exploring crude fell four times in the last five weeks. However, the current tally, though far from the peak of 1,609 attained in October 2014, is significantly above the previous year’s count of 428.
Natural Gas Rig Count: The natural gas rig count – which plunged to its lowest last August – declined by two units to 187. Like oil, the count of rigs for gas exploration sits comfortably above the year-ago tally of 94. As per the most recent report, the number of natural gas-directed rigs is nearly 88.4%, below the all-time high of 1,606 achieved in late summer 2008.
Rig Count by Type: The number of vertical drilling rigs increased by one unit to 65, but the horizontal/directional rig count (encompassing new drilling technology that has the ability to drill and extract gas from dense rock formations, also known as shale formations) decreased by five units to 871.
Gulf of Mexico (GoM): The GoM rig count stands at 22 units – 18 of which were oil-directed – same as the prior count.
