Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts:  The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending May 28th was 359 oil and 98 gas (totaling 457). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 5.0% and gas was up 2.1%. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 61.7% for oil and up 27.3% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +51.8%, or +156 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 359 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 81 in August 2016 then rose to 98 this week.

For the week ending May 28th, Texas was operating 218 rigs (49.2% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 71 (16.0%), and North Dakota with 16 (3.6%). Louisiana had 39 on-land and 14 off-shore (8.8%). Oklahoma count was 28 (6.3%). These five states together account for 83.9% 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.