Both the nation’s and Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas rig counts are plummeting—-8 lost in Oklahoma in the past week while the nation suffered a drop of 48 working rigs. The downturn is quickly gaining speed as prices remain in the low $30s and in effect, the plunge is adding to the unemployment rates in the nation’s oil-producing states.
Oklahoma’s count is down to 80 working rigs, a drop of 96 from the 176 working rigs in the state last year at this time. Losses were reflected in most of the working oil plays in the state. The Arkoma and Ardmore Woodfords are down to 8 compared to the 13 they had last year. The Granite Wash dropped five in the past week, reaching 8. That’s also a drop of 31 rigs in the past year. The Mississippian Lime count dropped by one to reach 10 rigs. Last year, there were 53.
The big plays in Texas have suffered too. The Eagle Ford dropped by four to reach 60. A year ago, there were 168 rigs in the Eagle Ford. The Permian Basin in west Texas and southeast New Mexico slipped by two to reach 180. That’s a drop of 237 in the past year.
Colorado remained even at 22. Kansas stayed at 9 while New Mexico was unchanged at 26 in the past week. North Dakota’s count fell by two to reach 42. In Texas, the loss totaled 19 in the past week, reaching a total of 262 rigs. That’s a drop of 396 in the past year.
Nationally, the U.S. dropped 48 rigs to reach 571. The decline included 31 more oil rigs, leaving only 467 in exploration. The number of gas rigs fell by 17 to reach 104. Over the last year, the total U.S. count dropped 885 from a total of 1,456. That includes a decline of 673 oil rigs and 210 gas rigs. In the past week, the U.S. offshore rig count dropped by two to reach 26.
In Canada, the rig count increased by eleven to reach 242. But that’s still down 139 from a year ago.
