The counts of drilling rigs declined for the fifth straight week in Permian Basin and sixth straight week in U.S. as of May 17, according to Baker Hughes. During this decline, the Permian Basin count fell from 464 to 454, and the U.S. count dropped from 1,025 to 987. The Texas count fell in the last week from 485 to 482, and New Mexico added a rig in the past week to 103 to remain equal to Oklahoma for No. 2 on the list of states well back of Texas.
Reeves County count is unchanged in past week with 61 rigs followed in Permian Basin by Eddy, N.M., with 53 (up 1 in past week), Lea, N.M., with 48 (unchanged in past week), Midland with 43 (up 1), Martin with 40 (up 4), Loving with 37 (up 2) and Howard with 31 (up 1).
Eddy and Lea give New Mexico two of the top six oil-producing counties in the nation. The Hobbs News Sun said May 14 that data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show Eddy at No. 2 behind North Dakota’s McKenzie County in January (17.3 million to 14.6 million barrels for the month) with Lea ranked sixth at 10 million barrels (Midland is fourth at 12.5 million barrels).
Other top regions as of May 17 include Eagle Ford with 74 rigs (unchanged in past week), Marcellus with 60 (down 3), Williston with 56 (unchanged) and Haynesville with 50 (down 2). Other leading states include Louisiana with 63 rigs (up 2 in past week) and North Dakota with 56 rigs (unchanged in past week).
