Horizontal oil drilling drove last week’s increase
U.S. drilling activity has finally hit a major milestone in the oil and gas recovery, with the total U.S. rig count surpassing 1,000 rigs. At 1,003 rigs, this is the first time the number of rigs in the country has exceeded 1,000 in exactly three years, as activity dropped below this level in early April 2015.
Land-based rigs pushed the overall total over 1,000, which is appropriate as such rigs powered virtually all of the recovery. Ten land-based rigs came online this week, while inland waters and offshore were unchanged. There are now a total of 987 land-based, four inland waters and 12 offshore rigs drilling in the U.S.
Oil drilling continues to dominate American operations, as eleven oil-targeting rigs came online. Gas-targeting rigs were unchanged in the week, while one miscellaneous rig shut down. Oil-targeting rigs now account for 80.6% of all operations, with 808 rigs, while 194 rigs are targeting gas and one rig in Nevada has a “miscellaneous” target.
Horizontal drilling dominates trajectories
Horizontal drilling dominates current oil and gas operations, to a degree not seen in at least 27 years. Fourteen horizontal rigs came online this week, while three directional rigs began drilling and seven vertical rigs shut down.
Baker Hughes has tracked rig trajectories since January 1991, showing how industry trends shifted over time. With 884 horizontal rigs, compared to 63 directional and 56 vertical, horizontal drilling now accounts for about 88.1% of all activity. This is the largest single-trajectory share on record, surpassing vertical’s peak of 85.9% in 1992.
Minor basins see largest growth
Nearly every major state tracked by Baker saw activity shift in some way this week. Oklahoma saw the largest change, adding five rigs. Three came online in New Mexico, while Texas and Kansas added two and North Dakota, Ohio, Utah and West Virginia all added one. One rig shut down in Alaska, Colorado, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, while two came offline in Louisiana.
Minor basins not individually tracked by Baker saw the largest increase in activity this week, adding six rigs.
Among major basins, the Utica saw the largest activity growth, as two rigs came online. One rig began operations in the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Permian and Williston, while one shut down in the Marcellus and Mississippian.
International rig count down seven
Baker also released its monthly International Rig Count today, giving an overview of the global activity level. In total, seven rigs shut down internationally, meaning there are 972 active rigs. The Middle East remains the most active international region, with 397 rigs. Asia Pacific is second-largest with 204 active rigs, while 193 rigs are drilling in Latin America. Africa and Europe have equal activity levels, with 89 rigs each.
The largest increase in activity came in Europe, where a net five rigs began operations. This increase was driven by activity in Norway, where expanded activity in the North Sea brought five new rigs online.
Minor changes were seen in Africa and the Middle East, which lost and added one rig respectively. The largest change in these regions was seen in Egypt, where six rigs began drilling. Saudi Arabia and Nigeria experienced the largest decrease in activity, with four rigs shutting down each.
Significant decreases were seen in the Asia Pacific and Latin American regions, as six rigs shut down in each region. Unlike in other regions, these areas saw much more distributed shifts, with no single country accounting for a large portion of the overall change.
