Enverus Onshore Rig Count Down Again; Marcellus @ 25, Utica @ 6
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.
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 
Two weeks ago the Enverus onshore rig count finally hit bottom and turned around, nudging up by five rigs (see 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For the past few months, MDN has followed the 
Last week S&P Global Platts reported the Enverus (Drillinginfo) rig count for the U.S. had slipped to a new all-time low of 299 (see 
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 June report, which predicts production for the coming month of July, estimates natural gas production in the Permian basin has just about stabilized (will go down just a little). However, natgas production in the Marcellus/Utica will continue to drop like a rock in the coming month.