Texas and Permian Basin again were the loss leaders in Baker Hughes’ weekly report of active oil and gas drilling rigs as of Sept. 29. Texas’ count fell by 8 in the past week to 304 (360 year ago), and the count in the Permian Basin fell by 5 to 312 (344 year ago). Also, there were 102 rigs in New Mexico (100 week ago, 113 year ago) and 623 in U.S. (630 week ago, 765 year ago). New Mexico, Louisiana and North Dakota were the only states reporting increases. Permian’s count is down from 341 to start the third quarter (down 8.5 percent in 3Q) and is its lowest since March 2022.
Three Permian counties reported gains in the past week. Lea, N.M., the leader, added 2 rigs to reach 58, and Eddy, N.M., remains runner-up with another report of 43 rigs. Others include Martin with 41 (up 3), Reeves with 27 (down 1), Loving with 26 (unchanged) and Midland with 24 (down 4). Glasscock, Howard (up 2) and Ward counties each report 12.
Louisiana remains No. 3 among states with 43 rigs (up 1) followed by Oklahoma with 35 (down 2) and North Dakota with 31 (up 1). Eagle Ford in south Texas remains No. 2 among regions with 49 rigs (unchanged) followed by Haynesville with 39 (unchanged), Williston with 33 (up 1) and Marcellus with 28 (down 1).