Depressed energy prices have sharply curtailed oil and gas exploration.
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Fourteen drilling rigs were added to onshore oil and gas fields this week, while seven offshore rigs were evacuated the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Hermine took shape.
Central Oklahoma’s STACK and SCOOP plays are seen as one of the country’s few bright spots during the industry downturn and its slow recovery.
The Permian this week added three rigs to 202. Almost half of the nation’s active rigs are in Texas – 241 out of 497 rigs.
The oil count increased by a single rig after last week’s move of zero. The count is down 201 this year and off 75 percent from 1,929 in November 2014.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981.
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the USA climbed one in the past week to 407, resuming a rise after a string of recent increases was snapped last week, according to oil-field services company Baker Hughes Inc. The Utica, Williston, and Marcellus formations saw smaller increases of one or two rigs each.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil is headed for its worst week since March, even amid a 3% rebound on Friday.
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Posted: Sep. 2, 2016 8:00 am Updated: Sep.
