Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts:  The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending April 30th was 342 oil and 96 gas (totaling 438). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 1.5% and gas was up 5.5%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 5.2% for oil and up 18.5% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +7.8%, or +32 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 1,000 in 2015 and landed at 342 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 81 in August 2016 then rose to 96 this week.

For the week ending April 30th, Texas was operating 211 rigs (49.4% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 70 (16.4%), and North Dakota with 15 (3.5%). Louisiana had 37 on-land and 12 off-shore (8.7%). Oklahoma count was 21 (4.9%). These five states together account for 82.9% of the nation’s rig count.

The energy agency says, “While a successful vaccine rollout should break the link between infection and mobility, even then global oil demand will likely only reach its pre-pandemic run rate by mid-2022.”

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.