Rig count surges as oil price falls
The number of rigs drilling for oil and natural gas throughout the country grew at its fastest pace in three years this week even as oil prices suffered their worst week in two years.
Oil and natural gas companies added 29 rigs this week to 975, up 32 percent from one year ago, according to Baker Hughes. The number of rigs drilling for oil gained 26 to 791 while the number of natural gas rigs added three to 184.
In Oklahoma, the count grew by one this week to 118, up 16 percent from 102 one year ago.
Oklahoma's SCOOP and STACK fields are part of the Cana Woodford basin, which gave back two rigs this week and dropped to the country's third most active field. South Texas' Eagle Ford gained three rigs this week to pass the Cana Woodford with 69 rigs.
The Permian Basin in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico gained 10 rigs to 437, up 45 percent from 301 one year ago.
Eleven new rigs were added outside of the country's 14 major basins, a possible indication of exploration activity.
Texas remained the most active drilling state, adding 14 rigs to 479, up 32 percent from 362 one year ago. North Dakota and Wyoming each added four rigs this week while Louisiana and New Mexico added three and Kansas gained one. Colorado gave back one rig this week.
The rig count surged this week even as oil prices tumbled. Domestic benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude prices steadily climbed for seven months, soaring 59 percent from $42.06 a barrel in June to $66.66 last week. This week, however, the price gave back more than 10 percent, closing Friday at $59.20 a barrel. Natural gas fell 9.5 percent this week to $2.58 per thousand cubic feet.