11 January 2014 – The count of oil and gas rigs drilling in the US added three this week to 1754, according to the latest data from Baker Hughes.
The Houston service firm said on Friday that the tally of units exploring for oil jumped by 15 to 1378, up from 1323 a year ago.
The count searching for gas was down by 15 to 372, compared to 434 a year ago.
Three “miscellaneous” rigs were added for a total of four.
The Houston firm’s quarterly well count, also out Friday, showed that explorers drilled 9056 wells in the final three months of 2013, a 5% gain from the year-ago period.
The total units in the Gulf of Mexico also fell by four to 55.
Oklahoma booked a big gain of 14 rigs for a total of 183. Other gainers were New Mexico, Utah and West Virginia, which all added two for totals of 81, 25 and 34 respectively.
Texas dropped by seven units to 825 while Colorado and North Dakota each fell by six to 59 and 168 respectively.
By basin, the Williston fell by six to 179 while the Barnett and Mississippian dropped by two each to 32 and 73.
The Granite Wash added three to 55 and the Haynesville two to 45.
*Kathrine Schmidt, Upstreamonline
