Permian Basin and Texas once again were the leaders in new drilling rig activity last week as the basin heads toward record production in December. Baker Hughes said as of Nov. 19 there were 278 rigs in Permian Basin (up 6 in past week, up 156 in past year) and 271 rigs in Texas (up 7 in past week, up 144 in past year). New Mexico added 2 rigs for a new total of 83 (55 a year ago), and U.S. added 7 rigs for a new total of 563 (310 a year ago). Most counts are the highest since April 2020.
Lea County, N.M., leads the basin with 55 rigs followed by Midland with 32, Eddy, N.M., with 26 and Reeves with 25. Haynesville is No. 2 among regions with 47 rigs as of Nov. 19 (46 last week, 40 last year) followed by Eagle Ford with 42 (41 last week, 20 last year), Marcellus with 29 (28 last week, 27 last year), and Williston and Cana Woodford with 24 each. And Louisiana is No. 3 among states with 49 rigs (49 last week, 38 last year) followed by Oklahoma with 44 (44 last week, 13 last year) and North Dakota with 23 (23 last week, 11 last year).
U.S. Energy Information Administration said Nov. 15 it expects a record 4.953 million barrels per day of crude oil production in December in Permian Basin.