In its weekly release, Houston-based oilfield services company
Baker Hughes Inc.
(
BHI
) reported a dip in the U.S. rig count (number of rigs searching
for oil and gas in the country).
This can be attributed to cutbacks in the tally of gas-directed
rigs that dropped for the sixth straight week to touch another
13-year low, while oil drilling remained stable at its 25-year high
level.
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
),
Nabors Industries
(
NBR
),
Patterson-UTI Energy
(
PTEN
),
Helmerich & Payne
(
HP
), etc. in gauging the overall business environment of the oil and
gas industry.
Analysis of the Data
Weekly Summary:
Rigs engaged in exploration and production in the U.S. totaled
1,959 for the week ended June 29, 2012. This was down by 7 from the
previous week's count and represents the third decrease in as many
weeks.
Despite this, the current nationwide rig count is more than
double that of the 6-year low of 876 (in the week ended June 12,
2009) and comfortably exceeds the prior-year level of 1,886. 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 descended by 7 to 1,893, while
inland waters activity and offshore drilling remained steady at 18
and 48 rigs, respectively.
Natural Gas Rig Count:
The natural gas rig count decreased for the ninth time in 10 weeks
to 534 (a drop of 7 rigs from the previous week). As per the most
recent report, the number of gas-directed rigs is at their lowest
level since August 20, 1999 and is down almost 43% from its 2011
peak of 936, reached during mid-October.
The current natural gas rig count remains 67% below its all-time
high of 1,606 reached in late summer 2008. In the year-ago period,
there were 874 active natural gas rigs.
Oil Rig Count:
The oil rig count remained unchanged at 1,421. The current tally -
the highest since Baker Hughes started breaking up oil and natural
gas rig counts in 1987 - is way above the previous year's rig count
of 1,006. It has recovered strongly from a low of 179 in June 2009,
rising by nearly 8 times.
Miscellaneous Rig Count:
The miscellaneous rig count (primarily drilling for geothermal
energy) at 4 remained unchanged from the previous week.
Rig Count by Type:
The number of vertical drilling rigs fell by 15 to 553, 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 up by 8 at
1,406. In particular, horizontal rig units - that reached an
all-time high of 1,193 in May this year - increased by 6 from last
week's level to 1,171.
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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