Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending March 29th was 506 oil and 112 gas (totaling 618). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were flat and gas down 5.9%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were down 14.5% for oil and down 30.0% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was -17.7%, or -134 rigs.

Figure 1 shows the Baker Hughes U.S. Rotary Rig Counts for oil and gas equipment in the U.S. from 2014 to present. Oil rigs dropped below 200 in 2020 and landed at 506 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 68 in July 2020 then rose to 112 this week.

For the week ending March 29th, Texas was operating 287 rigs (47.75% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 111 (18.4%), and North Dakota with 32 (5.3%). Louisiana had 26 on-land and 15 off-shore (4.3%). Oklahoma count was 44 (7.3%). These five states together account for 83.2% of the nation’s rig count.

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.