Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending March 25th was 531 oil and 137 gas (totaling 668). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 1.7% and gas was up 7.9%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 63.9% for oil and up 48.9% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +60.7%, or +253 rigs.

Figure 1 shows the Baker Hughes U.S. Rotary Rig Counts for oil and gas equipment in the U.S. from 2012 to present. Oil rigs dropped below 200 in 2020 and landed at 531 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 68 in July 2020 then rose to 137 this week.

For the week ending March 25th, Texas was operating 325 rigs (49.5% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 96 (14.6%), and North Dakota with 33 (5%). Louisiana had 47 on-land and 13 off-shore (7.16%). Oklahoma count was 49 (7.47%). These five states together account for 83.8% 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.