The rig recovery is still mostly an oil story, but during the week ending Friday, dry gas shale plays got some love despite an overall natural gas rig count that declined by two, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI).

Among plays, the Barnett Shale was the big gainer for the week, adding two rigs to make for three running. The Haynesville Shale saw the return of one rig, climbing to 14 active. And recently some action even came back to the Fayetteville Shale, which had one rig running at week’s end, up from zero not long ago.

BHI’s U.S. land-based rig count came to rest at an even 500 units on Friday following a week that saw only modest changes in drilling activity week to week.

Three U.S. land rigs were added while two were taken from the inland waters category and one rejoined the hunt in the offshore, making for a net gain of two units overall and a U.S. rig tally of 524 at week’s end. Three oil rigs were added; two natural gas rigs departed and one “miscellaneous” rig came back. The addition of six horizontal rigs was tempered by the withdrawal of one directional unit and three verticals.

Across states, rig departures were no greater than one per state and additions were no greater than two (Texas). The Denver-Julesburg/Niobrara, Eagle Ford Shale and Permian Basin saw the departure of one rig each.

Canada saw the return of three rigs to end the week at 165 active (87 oil and 78 gas). The three rigs that came back were of the oily sort; gas rigs stood pat with the previous week.

Overall, North America added five rigs to end the week at 689 running.