Friday, July 3, 2009

The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States rose by 11 this week to 928.

That's the third consecutive week for an uptick after months of declines.
Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reports that of the rigs running nationwide, 688 were exploring for natural gas and 229 for oil. Eleven were listed as miscellaneous.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, North Dakota and Oklahoma each added three rigs, Colorado and New Mexico each added two, and California and Wyoming each gained one. Louisiana lost a rig, and Texas, Arkansas and Alaska were unchanged.

The report was released yesterday, a day early, because of the July Fourth holiday.

A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,921. The number of active rigs has increased by 52 in the past few weeks, but the U.S. count is still down 54 percent since the end of August as weak energy demand has hampered oilfield activity.

Baker Hughes has tracked rig counts since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted several record lows in 1999, bottoming out at 488.