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, partially offset by increase in oil rig count. In particular,
the natural gas rig count dropped for the eighth time in 9 weeks to
touch another near 13-year low., while oil drilling jumped to a new
25-year high.
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
1,966 for the week ended June 22, 2012. This was down by 5 from the
previous week's count and represents the fourth decrease in the
past 5 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 1,882. 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 inched up by 1 to 1,900, while
inland waters activity and offshore drilling were down by 3 each at
18 and 48 units, respectively
Natural Gas Rig Count:
The natural gas rig count decreased for the eighth time in 9 weeks
to 541 (a drop of 21 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 more than 42% from its 2011
peak of 936, reached during mid-October.
The current natural gas rig count remains 66% below its all-time
high of 1,606 reached in late summer 2008. In the year-ago period,
there were 873 active natural gas rigs.
Oil Rig Count:
The oil rig count was up by 16 to 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
1,003. 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 8 to 568, 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 3 at
1,398. In particular, horizontal rig units - that reached an
all-time high of 1,193 in May this year - increased by 3 from last
week's level to 1,165.
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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