Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending July 28th was 529 oil and 128 gas (totaling 657). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were down 2.9% and gas was up 3.2% On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were down 12.6% for oil and down 18.5% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was -13.4%, or -103 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 529 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 68 in July 2020 then rose to 128 this week.

For the week ending July 29th, Texas was operating 320 rigs (49.6% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 111 (17.2%), and North Dakota with 35 (5.4%). Louisiana had 34 on-land and 17 off-shore (5.3%). Oklahoma count was 39 (6.0%). These five states together account for 83.6% 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.