Rig count down for seventh straight week

Rig count down by 12 in Texas

Canadian and US rig count numbers were down this week.  Repsol photo.

HOUSTON_On Friday, oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported another drop in the US and Canadian oil and gas rig count.

This is the seventh consecutive week where fewer rigs were exploring for oil and gas in the United States.

In total, there were 413 oil rigs operational in the US, down by 26 from 439 last week.  With 101 gas rigs recorded, there was one less natural gas exploration rig up and running in the week ending on Feb. 19, 2016.

The biggest loss in the oil rig count was noted in Texas, where there were 12 fewer rigs operational, from 248 last week down to 236 this week.

Oklahoma and North Dakota both lost three rigs, Louisiana was down two rigs while Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Wyoming were all down by one rig.  No rig count changes were seen in Alaska, Arkansas, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah and West Virginia.

This time last year, there were 606 more oil rigs up and running and 188 more gas rigs in operation in the United States.

In Canada, there were nine fewer oil rigs and seven fewer gas rigs in operation compared to last week.

In 2015 at this time, there were 184 oil wells and 176 gas rigs in Canada.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.