2018 rig count starts off down 5
The total number of rigs operating in the U.S. declined by five, ending the week at 924, according to the latest edition of Baker Hughes’ Weekly Rig Count.
New drilling activity concentrated on unconventional operations, reversing the decline seen last week. Two horizontal rigs became active, while four directional and three vertical rigs shut down. A total of 798 horizontal rigs are operational, compared to 64 directional and 62 vertical. Horizontal drilling now makes up 86.4% of operations, a new record.
Three land rigs, one inland waters rig, and one offshore rig all shut down in the week, leaving 906 land, one inland waters and 17 offshore rigs operational.
80% of U.S. drilling is going for oil, 20% for natural gas
Five oil-targeting rigs shut down this week, while gas and miscellaneous rigs were unchanged. There are now 742 oil and 182 gas rigs active in the U.S.
Two rigs came online in Wyoming, while one began operations in Texas and New Mexico. One shut down in North Dakota and two ceased activities in Oklahoma. The largest change, however, came in Louisiana, were six rigs shut down this week.
Almost all changes happened in minor basins, as the major basins individually tracked by Baker saw only small changes in rig counts. Two Permian rigs came online, while one Haynesville and one Williston rig shut down. By contrast, a total of five rigs in “other basins” shut down.
38 Canadian rigs come online as drillers return from Christmas break
Canadian operations jumped significantly this week, adding 38 rigs to end the week at 174 active rigs. This continues the usual winter trend, as activity typically drops sharply in the last week of December, then rises in the first week of January. Last week a total of 74 rigs, or more than one third of all active at the time, shut down. The large jump in this week’s rig count, then, means most of the rigs that shut down last week are coming back. Almost all these rigs target oil, as 36 oil rigs and two gas rigs began operations this week.
