HOUSTON — The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. remained unchanged this week, staying at 952.
A year ago, just 447 rigs were active.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that 765 rigs sought oil and 187 explored for natural gas this week.
Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained three rigs, Utah increased by two and Colorado and North Dakota each increased by one.
Alaska, Louisiana and Oklahoma each declined by two.
Arkansas, California, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wyoming were all unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May of 2016 at 404.