HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. held steady at 1,057 this week.
At this time a year ago there were 946 active rigs.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that 869 rigs drilled for oil this week and 186 for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous.
Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained three rigs, Louisiana and Pennsylvania each increased by two and Oklahoma added one.
New Mexico lost three rigs and Alaska, Ohio, West Virginia and Wyoming each decreased by one.
Arkansas, California, Colorado, North Dakota and Utah were unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.
====================
Related stocks: Keppel Corp, Sembcorp Marine & Cosco.