Permian Basin added 4 more active oil and gas drilling rigs in the past week, according to Baker Hughes, to reach a new total of 192 as of Jan. 29. That’s an increase of 9.7 percent in the last month since starting the year with 175 rigs. There are 182 rigs in Texas (up 7 in the past week), 62 rigs in New Mexico (down 3 in the past week), and 384 rigs in U.S. (up 6 in the past week). In the past month, Texas’ rig count has increased 13.0 percent, and U.S. increased 9.4 percent.
Enverus said in Permian Basin as of Jan. 28 in the past month Occidental increased its rig count by 3 to 12, Pioneer Natural Resources added 3 and is now running 19 rigs, and Surge Operating added 2 rigs after a two-month drilling halt.
Lea County, N.M., is the Permian leader with 34 (up 1 in past week) followed by Eddy, N.M., with 28 (down 1), Martin with 21 (up 2), Loving with 19 (unchanged), Midland with 18 (down 1) and Reeves with 15 (up 2).
Baker Hughes said as of Jan. 29 there were 47 rigs in Louisiana (unchanged in past week), 18 rigs each in Oklahoma (up 1) and Pennsylvania, and 12 rigs each in West Virginia and North Dakota. Haynesville remains runner-up in rig count among regions with 45 (unchanged in past week) followed by Marcellus with 30, Eagle Ford with 28 (unchanged), Williston with 12 and Cana Woodford with 10.
U.S. Energy Information Administration said the nation’s oil production increased by 692,000 barrels per day in November 2020 to 11.124 million b/d – the first time it topped 11 million b/d since last April. And monthly gross natural gas production in the U.S. lower 48 states increased almost 3.0 billion cubic feet per day to 102.5 bcfd in November 2020.
And this week Texas Alliance of Energy Producers said Texas lost nearly 60,000 exploration and production jobs in 2020 – more than a quarter as the pandemic crushed demand for crude oil. There are now about 150,000 upstream oil and gas workers in Texas, the fewest in more than 15 years. “The job loss is devastating,” Alliance petroleum economist Karr Ingham said.