U.S. added to its count of active oil and gas drilling rigs for the third straight week, according to Baker Hughes, and Texas and Permian Basin also reported additional rigs last week. In the latest weekly report as of Dec. 1, there were 314 rigs in Permian Basin (311 previous week, 350 year ago), 306 in Texas (303 previous week, 371 year ago) and 625 in U.S. (622 previous week, 784 year ago). The count for New Mexico was unchanged in the past week at 106 (104 year ago).
Rig counts in Permian’s top three counties and seven of the top nine were unchanged in the past week. Lea, N.M., is the leader with 52 rigs followed by Eddy, N.M., with 51, Martin with 40, Reeves with 28 (up 2 in past week) and Midland with 25. Other counts include Loving with 23, Ward with 14 (up 1), Glasscock with 11 and Upton with 10.
Eagle Ford in south Texas remains No. 2 among regions with 50 rigs (unchanged in past week, 71 year ago) followed by Haynesville with 39 (unchanged in past week, 69 year ago), Williston with 33 (unchanged in past week, 42 year ago) and Marcellus with 29 (28 week ago, 39 year ago). Louisiana remains No. 3 among states with 41 rigs (unchanged in past week, 67 year ago) followed by Oklahoma with 38 (unchanged in past week, 71 year ago) and North Dakota with 32 (31 week ago, 38 year ago).