US rig count down by 4, Canadian count down 29

Baker Hughes rig count for the week ending Mar. 18, 2016

The rig count in the Gulf of Mexico remained unchanged at 26.  This time last year, there were 35 active rigs in the Gulf.  Shell photo.

HOUSTON _ In its weekly rig count analysis, oil services company Baker Hughes reported the number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the US was down by four, dropping from 480 to 476.

The count is a record low and another sign of continuing price woes in the oil and gas industry.

A year ago, there were 1067 active rigs in the United States.

For the first time in weeks, Texas registered a gain in the number of rigs with two, moving from 215 to 217 rigs.  This time last year there were 465 rigs operational in Texas.

The rig count in the Gulf of Mexico remained steady at 26.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming all reported no change in the number of operational rigs.  Kansas, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma each lost one rig while New Mexico was down by two rigs.

In Canada the rig count took another substantial hit this week.  According to Baker Hughes during the week ending March 11, there were 28 oil rigs in operation.  This week, there were 16 fewer rigs searching for oil and the number of gas rigs was also down this week in Canada, dropping from 70 to 57.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981.