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US: Baker Hughes Rig Count
| Actual | Previous | |
| North America | 799 | 804 |
| U.S. | 588 | 588 |
| Gulf of Mexico | 7 | 8 |
| Canada | 211 | 216 |
Highlights
The Hughes North American rig count is down 5 at 799 in the Aug. 28 week from 804 a week ago and up 88 from 711 a year ago.
The U.S. rig count is flat from last week at 588 and up 52 rigs from 536 last year at this time. The Canadian count is down 5 from last week at 211 and compared to last year is up 36 from 175. The Gulf of Mexico rig count is down 1 at 7 in the latest week from last week and down 3 from 10 a year ago.
For the U.S. count, rigs classified as drilling for oil down 5 at 447, gas rigs are up 5 at 132, and miscellaneous rigs are flat at 9. For the Canadian count, oil rigs are down 4 at 144, gas rigs are down 2 at 63, and miscellaneous is up 1 at 4.
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).