US Oil/Gas Rig Count Expands After Record Contraction

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/07/22/business/ap-us-rig-count.html

>HOUSTON — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 15 this week to 462.

>A year ago, 876 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration.

>Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 371 rigs sought oil and 88 explored for natural gas this week. Three were listed as miscellaneous.

>Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 15, California was up by two and New Mexico gained one.

>Louisiana declined by two. Alaska and Kansas each lost one.

>Arkansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming were unchanged.

>The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May at 404.

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/07/22/u-s-rig-count-jumps-up-again-with-15-more-texas-rigs/

>Apart from the Permian, other additions included three more rigs in Texas’ Barnett shale, two in the Eagle Ford, and one in the Granite Wash in the Texas Panhandle

>Despite this week’s jump, the oil rig count is down 77 percent from its peak of 1,609 in October 2014 before oil prices began plummeting.

>The price of U.S. oil hit a low $26.21 on Feb. 11. The price was hovering below $44 a barrel at noon on Friday, still well down from more than $100 a barrel in mid-2014.