West Texas' Permian Leads Rig Count Drop

Another sign that activity in the booming Permian Basin has at least plateaued for now, the prolific basin in West Texas lost six active drilling rigs last week.

The Texas Permian alone triggered the nationwide rig count dip because the overall tally only fell by five rigs, according to weekly data compiled by Baker Hughes, a GE company.  South Texas didn't fare much better with the Eagle Ford shale losing five rigs for the week.

Small gains in Colorado, Oklahoma and the Gulf of Mexico - prior to the formation of Tropical Storm Barry - helped avoid a larger nationwide loss in the rig count.

Texas lost seven rigs overall while no other state lost more than one net rig for the week.

Of the total tally of 958 rigs, 784 are primarily drilling for oil with the rest seeking natural gas.

The total rig count remains near its lowest point since the beginning of 2018 as drilling activity has been hit by oil prices that plunged more than 40 percent late last year, tightening corporate budgets reacting Wall Street-preached conservatism, and some industry consolidation.

But Texas and the Permian are still dominating the industry. Texas has 456 active rigs, nearly half of the nation's total. And the Permian's 437 rigs still account for 56 percent of all the rigs drilling for crude oil.

Source: Chron