Lea County takes lead in Permian Basin count with 59 drilling rigs

Lea County, N.M., is the new leader in Permian Basin in count of active oil and gas drilling rigs as of Sept. 27 by Houston-based oilfield services firm Baker Hughes. Lea added 3 rigs in the past week for a total of 59 while Reeves County lost 2 rigs to trail with 55. Other leaders include Eddy, N.M., with 47, Midland with 44, Loving and Martin with 35 rigs each, Howard with 24 and Ward with 21.
Baker Hughes said Permian Basin lost 3 rigs for a total of 414 (486 a year ago), Texas lost 5 rigs and has 418 (529 a year ago), New Mexico was unchanged with 109 rigs (97 a year ago), and U.S. lost 8 rigs for a total of 860 (1,054 a year ago).
None of the major producing states added rigs last week. Rig counts in other leading states include Oklahoma with 66 (66 last week, 141 last year), Louisiana with 56 (57 last week, 62 last year) and North Dakota with 53 (53 last week, 53 last year). Other leading regions include Eagle Ford with 62 rigs (63 last week, 79 last year), Williston with 53 rigs (53 last week, 53 last year), and Haynesville and Marcellus each with 50 rigs.