In its rapid decline in active oil and gas drilling rigs now at 11 weeks, U.S. has lost 475 rigs to fall to 318 rigs as of May 22 from 793 rigs as of March 6. Permian Basin posted a declining rig count in 10 of those 11 weeks to fall from 415 to 162 – a loss of 253 rigs or 53 percent of the U.S. loss. Also as of May 22, according to Baker Hughes, Texas has 138 rigs followed by New Mexico with 63, Louisiana with 35, Pennsylvania with 22, North Dakota with 14 and Oklahoma with 12.
The U.S. total is the lowest since Baker Hughes began keeping records in 1987.
“Changes in the number of oil rigs have historically followed changes in oil prices with a lag time of about four months,” U.S. Department of Energy said. “However, the current drop in rig count followed the recent decrease in the oil price much more rapidly than in the past.”
Eddy County, N.M., is the Permian leader with 41 rigs (down 1 in past week). Other leaders include Midland with 25 rigs (unchanged), Lea, N.M., with 22 (down 2 in past week), Loving and Martin with 14 each, Reeves with 12 and Howard with 10. The count in Reeves is down 86 percent from its all-time high of 85 rigs in November 2018, according to Pecos Enterprise.
Other leading regions include Haynesville with 32 rigs, Marcellus with 30, Eagle Ford with 22 and Williston with 14.