Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts: The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending December 28th was 483 oil and 102 gas (totaling 585). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 1.3% and gas up 2.0%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were down 5.5% for oil and down 13.8% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was -5.3%, or -33 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 483 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 68 in July 2020 then rose to 102 this week.

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.