Active Rig Count - Mar 18

[dan_s]

Active rig count in North America dropped by another 33 this week.

U.S. rig count dropped by 4 to 476, compared to 1,069 a year ago. This is the lowest active rig count in the U.S. ever reported by Baker Hughes in over 70 years.

Canadian rig count dropped by 29 to 69, compared to 140 a year ago. Looks like Canada is shutting it down.

In the United States:
> Rigs drilling for oil +1 to 387, compared to 1,609 in October, 2014.
> Rigs drilling for gas -5 to 89, compared to 242 a year ago.

It is estimated that we need 800 rigs drilling for oil and 300 rigs drilling for gas just to hold U.S. production flat.

Onshore U.S. oil production has been falling since April, 2015 and the rate of decline has accelerated to approximately 150,000 bbls per day each month. Overall oil production not falling as fast because of increased production in the Gulf of Mexico. Development wells are being connected to several large production platforms set last year.

U.S. crude oil imports are running at about 8.0 million bbls per day, compared to 7.2 million bbls per day at this time last year. By year-end the U.S. is expect to be importing over 50% of the oil it needs on a daily basis.