Number of oil, gas rigs drops by 3
HOUSTON – Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States declined by three this week to 885.
The Houston-based firm said Friday 659 rigs were seeking oil and 222 were exploring for natural gas. Four were listed as miscellaneous.
A year ago, 1,857 rigs were active.
Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana lost four rigs; West Virginia declined by three; and Kansas, North Dakota and Ohio each lost one.
Pennsylvania and New Mexico gained three rigs apiece, Arkansas was up by two and Oklahoma increased by one.
Alaska, California, Colorado, Texas, Utah and Wyoming were all unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.