US: Baker Hughes Rig Count

Highlights

Baker Hughes reports the North American rig count up by 10 to 742 from 732 In the previous week. The rig count is up 49 in the latest week from a year ago when it was at 693.

The U.S. rig count is down 1 from last week at 562 and up 7 rigs from 555 last year at this time. The Canadian count is up 11 from last week at 180 and compared to last year is up 42 from 138 a year ago. The Gulf of Mexico count is down 2 from a week ago at 6 and down 3 from 9 in the year-ago week.

For the U.S. count, rigs classified as drilling for oil are up 2 at 433, gas rigs are down 3 at 121 and miscellaneous rigs are flat at 8. For the Canadian count, oil rigs are up 6 at 121, gas rigs are up 4 at 58, and miscellaneous is up 1 at 1.

Definition

The Baker Hughes North American rig count tracks weekly changes in the number of active operating oil & gas rigs. Used for drilling wellbores for wells that may eventually produce oil or gas, active rigs are essential for the exploration and development of oil and gas fields. Rigs that are not active are not counted. Components in the data are the United States and Canada with a separate count for the Gulf of Mexico (which is a subset of the U.S. total). The count includes only rigs that are significant users of oilfield services and supplies.

Description

Changes in rig counts point to changes in the supply of oil & gas. The higher the rig count, the greater the upward pressure is on oil & gas supply and in turn the greater the downward pressure is on oil & gas prices. The reverse applies when rig counts turn lower, as they did during the oil price collapse of 2014-15 when lower counts contributed to a subsequent decline in domestic oil inventories. Data on the Gulf of Mexico offer indications on production disruptions during the hurricane season (June 1st to November 30th).

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