Permian Basin, New Mexico and U.S. added drilling rigs again in the previous week, according to the Feb. 21 report by Baker Hughes, and Texas held steady with 397 active rigs. Permian Basin added 1 rig for a new total of 409 (473 a year ago), New Mexico added 2 rigs (113 previous week, 108 a year ago) and U.S. added 1 rig (790 previous week, 1,047 a year ago). Texas had 508 rigs a year ago.
The U.S. rig count plunged by more than 25 percent in 2019, but has been largely unchanged for the past month. Enverus drillinginfo said the largest drops in the last year were by Concho Resources (down 15 rigs to a total of 18), Continental Petroleum (down 10 to 26), Devon Energy (down 9 to 12), EOG Resources (down 8 to 34) and Chesapeake Energy (down 8 to 13). ExxonMobil continues to be the most active operator with 71 rigs running followed by Diamondback Energy, Chevron, Pioneer Natural Resources and BP.
New Mexico counties Eddy (up 1 to 60 rigs) and Lea (unchanged at 53) remain the Permian Basin leaders. Other Permian leaders include Midland (46), Reeves (41), Martin (38), Loving (31), Howard (31) and Ward (20).
Third among states in active rig count as of Feb. 21 was North Dakota with 52. Louisiana and Oklahoma each had 51 rigs. Eagle Ford remains the runner-up region with 70 rigs (70 a week ago, 82 a year ago) followed by Williston with 53 (53 a week ago, 57 a year ago), Haynesville with 42 (41 a week ago, 57 a year ago) and Marcellus with 38 (38 a week ago, 62 a year ago).