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HOUSTON (AP) - Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by two this week to 1,769.
The Houston firm said in its weekly report Friday that 1,430 rigs were exploring for oil and 335 for gas. Four were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,757 active rigs.
Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Alaska gained three rigs, Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming each gained two and New Mexico and Ohio each gained one.
Louisiana and West Virginia each lost three rigs while Kansas, Pennsylvania and Texas each lost two. Arkansas, California, Oklahoma and Utah were unchanged.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
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