There were few changes in Baker Hughes’ count of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the final week of 2021. As of Dec. 31, there were 293 rigs in Permian Basin (294 week ago, 175 year ago), 277 in Texas (279 week ago, 161 year ago), 94 in New Mexico (93 week ago, 65 year ago) and 586 in U.S. (unchanged in past week, 351 year ago). It was the first decline in Permian Basin since June 2021 after 26 weeks of gains or flat rig count. New Mexico, Oklahoma and Louisiana were the only major producing states to report an increase in rig count last week.
For the year, the count increased 67 percent in Permian Basin, 72 percent in Texas, 44 percent in New Mexico and 67 percent in U.S.
Lea and Eddy counties in New Mexico remain the most active in Permian followed by the Texas counties of Midland, Martin, Reeves and Howard. Enverus said the most active operators at yearend were Pioneer Natural Resources (25 rigs ), EOG Resources (16), Mewbourne, Occidental and Endeavor. At yearend there were 102 companies drilling in Permian compared to 57 a year ago.
Haynesville remains No. 2 among regions with 49 rigs (43 year ago) followed by Eagle Ford with 44 (26 year ago), Marcellus with 29 (26 year ago), Cana Woodford with 28 (9 year ago) and Williston with 27 (11 year ago). Oklahoma (17 year ago) and Louisiana (43 year ago) each has 49 rigs, and North Dakota (11 year ago) is No. 5 with 27.