According to the data experts at Enverus, the U.S. oil and gas rig count ended the year at 407 rigs, down slightly more than 50% from the same point in 2019. The Marcellus play ended the year with 32 active rigs, and the Utica with 6 active rigs (total of 38 active rigs in the M-U). At the end of 2019, there were 840 rigs operating in the U.S.
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The story of the Marcellus/Utica is a story of natural gas. At least, mostly. We focus almost exclusively on natgas production here on MDN. But there is another story in the M-U, and that’s shale oil. More oil is produced in the Ohio Utica than in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Marcellus, but all three states produce at least some oil from their shale plays. We spotted a new report about the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) and its use in “enhanced oil recovery” or EOR. The report covers (in part) the Marcellus region and was co-authored by researchers at West Virginia University.
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The Enverus U.S. rig count continues to rise. Two weeks ago the nationwide count was 382. As of Wednesday, the count stood at 396, up 14. Over the past week, the Marcellus shale play in northeastern PA lost a rig. The combined M-U rig count is now 32.
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The Enverus U.S. rig count rose by a whopping 20 to 379 over the past week. Prior to that, the count rose by 11, 11, and 13 for each of the three weeks prior, respectively. That’s up 55 rigs over the past month! The Marcellus and Utica each remained constant last week, not adding and not dropping. The Marcellus stands at 27 rigs, and the Utica at 6.
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The Enverus U.S. rig count rose by 11 to 347 over the past week, after having going up by 13 the week before (see Enverus US Rig Count Leaps Up 13, Marcellus Rigs Up by 4). The Marcellus Shale dropped one rig, but the Utica Shale picked up a rig, so overall the M-U maintained at 32 active rigs.
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The Enverus U.S. rig count rose by 13 to 336 over the past week, after having slid backward the week before (see Rig Count Slides Backward by 3, Marcellus Lost 2 Rigs Last Week). The best news? The Marcellus region gained four active rigs, two in the dry gas northeast region, and two in the wet gas southwest region. The Ohio Utica Shale maintained its seven active rigs.
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It’s been two weeks since we’ve updated the Enverus onshore rig count numbers. The good news is that the Marcellus/Utica region is staying steady with the Marcellus at 25 active rigs and the Utica at 6 active rigs (paltry numbers compared to months and years past). The bad news is that the count for the entire country is down from 280 a few weeks ago to 275 as of yesterday. That’s still higher than the record low of 264 in July.
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Another week, another look at the rig count. The onshore rig count continues to bump along near the bottom of historic lows. It’s not AT the bottom (thank God), but it does continue to flirt with low numbers. According to Enverus, which tracks rigs using GPS units, the count bottomed at the beginning of July with 264 active rigs. Since then it’s risen and currently stands around 280 rigs. Week to week it goes up and it goes down, but not down significantly. According to Enverus, the count lost a rig last week.
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The onshore rig count continues to bump along near the bottom. A few weeks ago we noted that after hitting bottom, the Enverus rig count had once again started to climb (see Bottom! Enverus Onshore Rig Count Finally Moves Higher Last Week). Then the count went down a bit again (see Retrograde: Enverus Onshore Rig Count Slips Again, Down 7 Rigs). Last week’s numbers show the count staying about the same–maybe up or down one or two rigs, we’ll call it even. The Baker Hughes rig count, on the other hand, hit an all-time historic low. Not since BH began counting rigs in 1940 has the count been this low. Yuck.
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Two weeks ago the Enverus onshore rig count finally hit bottom and turned around, nudging up by five rigs (see Bottom! Enverus Onshore Rig Count Finally Moves Higher Last Week). Last week the count climbed again, up another 11 (see Enverus Onshore Rig Count Higher Again, Leaving Bottom Behind). Over the past seven days the rig count faltered and has gone backward (retrograde) once again, going down seven rigs. The good news is that we’re still higher than the bottom hit a few weeks ago.
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President Trump visited the Permian Basin yesterday to announce export authorizations for LNG will now go through 2050, to sign four permits for pipeline and rail transport of fossil fuels, and to get the truth out about his administration’s efforts to make America secure by making our country “energy dominant.” The liberal media spin machine was in overdrive trying to cover up the great news about U.S. fossil fuels–but they could not. Trump was on his “A” game yesterday and it showed.
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Who would win a fight between Thor and Superman? Could Wonder Woman defeat Spider-Man? Does it even matter? Of course not! We just know we love watching superhero movies. But there would be no superhero flicks without oil, natural gas, and coal. You wouldn’t know it to listen to the news media, activists, and many politicians, but these essential energy resources are the REAL LIFE superheroes of our daily lives. Without fossil fuels, we would all be living in an unending horror show with no popcorn, no drink, no comfortable seat, no air conditioning, and… not much else for that matter.
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Once again the Enverus onshore rig count added more active rigs over the past week. Last week at this time the rig count stood at 279. This week, as of yesterday, the count stood at 290, a gain of 11 rigs! However, the Marcellus/Utica counts remain pretty anemic. The Marcellus lost a rig from the dry gas area of northeastern PA. The total Marcellus count is 27. The Ohio Utica remains steady at a paltry 7 active rigs.
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Over the past week, comparing this past Wednesday (Jul 15) with a week ago Wednesday (Jul 8), the Enverus onshore rig count increased by five–from 276 to 281. After four solid months of the rig count going down, perhaps we’ve finally hit bottom, turned a corner, and any other analogy you can think of to indicate better days are ahead.
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Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company headquartered in Oslo, Norway (but with major offices in cities including Houston), recently issued their latest assessment of the worldwide oil and gas marketplace. Rystad is predicting the number of oil and gas wells drilled worldwide in 2020 will fall by a staggering 23% from the number drilled last year. Rystad’s prediction models stretch out five years and forecasts over the next five years the number of wells drilled in any given year will *still not* exceed the number of wells drilled in 2019. Yuck.
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Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR estimates how much oil and natural gas each of the country’s seven largest shale plays produced in the previous (current) month, and how much each will produce in the coming (next) month. The July report, which predicts production for the coming month of August, estimates natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica will decrease by 210 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d)–the biggest decrease for any of the major shale plays.
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