US pushes rig count higher: Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes reported July 9 that the North American active rig count improved by five to 616, with US gains leading the improvement.
The total US rig count of 479 marked an increase of four from the week ending July 2. The Utica shale basin in the US Midwest had one gain, while non-identified basins – listed as “others” by Baker Hughes – accounted for the rest.
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Gains were split evenly across oil and natural gas for the week. Across the US, 78.9% of the upstream activity focused on oil and the rest in natural gas.
The Canadian rig count improved by just one, though gains and losses were spread across the territory. Alberta’s rig count increased by four to reach 88, British Colombia gained 1 rig to reach 16 and Manitoba improved by one to three. With the loss of one rig off Newfoundland, the rig count there settled at one, while Saskatchewan’s rig count declined by four to reach 29.
Using data provided by Enverus, Baker Hughes does not break oil and gas activity down to the provincial level for Canada. For the week, oil activity in Canada dominated upstream work by a factor of 2-to-1, with about 64% of the activity focused on crude oil.
Despite net improvements, upstream activity in North America remains below pre-pandemic levels, even as commodity prices continue to post multi-year highs. There were 958 rigs in service in the US during the comparable week in 2019, while Canada had 117.