Rig count holds steady at 787
HOUSTON – Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week remained unchanged at 787.
The Houston-based firm said Friday that 594 rigs were seeking oil and 193 explored for natural gas. A year ago, with oil prices about double the prices now, 1,595 rigs were active.
Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana gained five rigs, Ohio was up two, and Alaska and Oklahoma each rose by one.
Texas declined by five rigs and Pennsylvania and Kansas were down by two each. West Virginia and New Mexico dropped one apiece.
Arkansas, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Utah and Wyoming were unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.