After a week of gains, Permian Basin, Texas and U.S. returned to declining counts of drilling rigs last week, according to the weekly report of Aug. 16 from Baker Hughes. There were 303 rigs in Permian Basin (down 1 from 304 previous week, down 24 from 327 year ago), 273 in Texas (down 3 from 276 previous week, down 39 from 312 year ago) and 586 in U.S. (down 2 from 588 previous week, down 56 from 642 year ago). There were 107 rigs in New Mexico (unchanged from previous week, down 5 from 112 year ago).
Only one of the top nine counties in Permian Basin reported an additional rig in the past week. Eddy, N.M., remains the region leader with 52 rigs followed by Lea, N.M., with 51, Martin with 31, Reeves with 28 and Loving with 21. Others include Midland with 18 rigs, Reagan with 15, Upton with 13 and Howard up 1 to 12.
Eagle Ford in south Texas is No. 2 among regions with 48 rigs (down 2 in previous week, down 5 in past year) followed by Williston with 36, Haynesville with 32 and Marcellus with 25. Louisiana is No. 3 among states with 38 (unchanged in past week) followed by Oklahoma with 37 (up 2) and North Dakota with 35 (unchanged).