U.S. Rig Count Up to 1854 - Analyst Blog
June 06 2011 - 1:15PM
Zacks
In its weekly release, Houston-based
oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc.
(BHI) reported a rise in the U.S. rig
count (number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the country),
primarily reflecting an increase in the tally of land rigs.
In particular, there were more rigs
drilling for oil than gas for the seventh week in a row as the
companies look to capitalizing on soaring oil prices, which are
currently trending at around $100 a barrel.
The Baker Hughes rig count, issued
since 1944, acts as an important yardstick for drilling contractors
such as Transocean Inc. (RIG),
Diamond Offshore (DO),
Noble Corp. (NE), Pride
International (PDE), Nabors
Industries (NBR), Patterson-UTI
Energy (PTEN) and Helmerich &
Payne (HP) in gauging the overall
business environment of the oil and gas industry.
Weekly
Summary
Rigs engaged in exploration and
production in the U.S. totaled 1,854 for the week ended June 3,
2011. This is up by 7 from the previous week’s rig count and
represents the highest level since November 26, 2008.
The current nationwide rig count is
more than double that of the 6-year low of 876 (set in the week
ended June 12, 2009) and significantly exceeds the prior-year level
of 1,506. It rose to a 22-year high in 2008, peaking at 2,031 in
the weeks ending August 29 and September 12.
Rigs engaged in land operations
climbed by 10 to 1,806, offshore drilling decreased by 2 to 33,
while inland waters activity was down by 1 at 15 rigs.
Natural Gas Rig
Count
The natural gas rig count, which
slid to a 16-month low recently, increased for the second time in
as many weeks to 887 (a gain of 6 rigs from the previous week).
Despite the weekly improvement, the number of gas-directed rigs is
down more than 10% from its 2010 peak of 992, reached during
mid-August.
The current natural gas rig count
remains 45% below its all-time high of 1,606 reached back in late
summer 2008, but have rebounded strongly after bottoming out to a
7-year low of 665 on July 17, 2009. In the year-ago period, there
were 947 active natural gas rigs.
Oil Rig
Count
The oil rig count was up by 1 to
959. The current tally – the maximum in 23 years – is considerably
higher than the previous year’s rig count of 545. It has recovered
strongly from a low of 179 in June 2009, rising more than 5
times.
Miscellaneous Rig
Count
The miscellaneous rig count
(primarily drilling for geothermal energy), at 8, was unchanged
from the previous week.
Rig Count by
Type
The number of vertical drilling rigs
rose by 12 to 573, while the horizontal/directional rig count
(encompassing new drilling technology that has the ability to drill
and extract gas from dense rock formations, also known as shale
formations) was down by 5 at 1,281. In particular, horizontal rig
units came off by 3 from last week’s all-time high of 1,051.
BAKER-HUGHES (BHI): Free Stock Analysis Report
DIAMOND OFFSHOR (DO): Free Stock Analysis Report
HELMERICH&PAYNE (HP): Free Stock Analysis Report
NABORS IND (NBR): Free Stock Analysis Report
NOBLE CORP (NE): Free Stock Analysis Report
PATTERSON-UTI (PTEN): Free Stock Analysis Report
TRANSOCEAN LTD (RIG): Free Stock Analysis Report
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