Number of active U.S. drilling rigs decreases sharply this week

Source: Xinhua | 2020-04-04

The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased sharply by 64 to 664 this week, down by 361 year on year, according to the weekly data released Friday by Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes.

These active drilling rigs included 562 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down by 62 from the previous week; 100 gas drilling rigs, down by two; and two miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from last week.

The 664 rigs included 646 land drilling rigs, down by 64 from the previous week. There were 18 offshore drilling rigs and no inland waters drilling rig this week, same as last week.

Of them, 41 are directional drilling rigs, 593 are horizontal drilling rigs, and 30 are vertical drilling rigs.

During the week, the number of drilling rigs decreased the most by 30 in the state of Texas to 338 rigs. Oklahoma and New Mexico lost 10 and nine rigs, respectively.

By far, the Permian Basin in western Texas and eastern New Mexico has been the largest source of shale oil production growth in the United States, and has become an engine of supply growth outside the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in the past years.