Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending March 31st was 592 oil and 160 gas (totaling 752). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were flat, and gas was up 3.9% On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 11.1% for oil and up 15.9% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +12.2%, or +82 rigs.

Figure 1 shows the Baker Hughes U.S. Rotary Rig Counts for oil and gas equipment in the U.S. from 2013 to present. Oil rigs dropped below 200 in 2020 and landed at 592 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 68 in July 2020 then rose to 160 this week.

For the week ending March 31st, Texas was operating 375 rigs (50.8% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 104 (14.1%), and North Dakota with 41 (5.5%). Louisiana had 41 on-land and 16 off-shore (5.5%). Oklahoma count was 59 (8.0%). These five states together account for 84.1% of the nation’s rig count.

The energy agency says, “At the time, OPEC was not in a position to restore stability to the market, so it reached out to producers outside the group, including Russia and nine other countries. When Covid-19 and more unprecedented events struck, it affirmed how important the established framework was.”

At Gerdau, we monitor rig counts along with the price of oil and natural gas since it has a major impact on long product sales – including special bar quality sucker rods for downhole pumping strings, to merchant and structural products for rigs and oilfield equipment.