U.S., Texas and Permian Basin each posted small gains in rig count in the final week of 2023, but the counts for all three were down for the year. Baker Hughes said as of Dec. 29 there were 622 rigs in U.S. (620 previous week, 779 year ago), 309 in Texas (306 previous week, 376 year ago) and 309 in Permian Basin (307 previous week, 353 year ago). Permian was the only basin and Texas was one of only two states to add rigs last week. For the year, the U.S. count was down 20.2 percent from 779, Texas’ count was down 17.8 percent from 376 and the Permian count was down 12.5 percent from 353.
New Mexico reported 97 rigs (98 previous week, 102 year ago) as of Dec. 29. For the year, New Mexico was down 4.9 percent from 102.
Lea County, N.M., remains the Permian leader with 48 rigs (down 1 in past week) followed by Eddy, N.M., with 46 (unchanged), Martin with 37 (down 2), Reeves with 32 (up 1) and Midland with 27 (unchanged) in the top five. Others include Loving with 22 rigs (up 2), Ward with 13 (unchanged), Upton with 12 (up 1) and Glasscock with 10 (down 1).
Oklahoma is No. 3 among states with 44 rigs (44 week ago, 69 year ago) followed by Louisiana with 42 (42 week ago, 68 year ago) and North Dakota with 31 (31 week ago, 39 year ago). Eagle Ford in south Texas remains No. 2 among regions with 53 rigs (54 week ago, 71 year ago) followed by Haynesville in east Texas and Louisiana with 44 (44 week ago, 72 year ago), Williston with 32 (32 week ago, 42 year ago) and Marcellus with 28 (28 week ago, 39 year ago).