Oil and Gas Rotary Rig Counts:  The total number of operating rigs in the U.S. for the week ending June 25th was 372 oil and 98 gas (totaling 470). In percentage terms, on a month on month (m/m) basis, oil rigs were up 3.6% and gas was flat. On a year on year (y/y) comparison, rigs were up 97.9% for oil and up 30.7% for gas. The combined figure for y/y was +77.4%, or +205 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 372 this week. Gas rigs bottomed-out at 81 in August 2016 then rose to 98 this week.

For the week ending June 25th, Texas was operating 220 rigs (48.2% of the total), followed by New Mexico with 75 (16.4%), and North Dakota with 17 (3.7%). Louisiana had 39 on-land and 13 off-shore (8.6%). Oklahoma count was 27 (5.9%). 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.