Including a drop-off in Haynesville Shale activity, declines in both natural gas and oil drilling saw the U.S. rig count drop seven units to 772 for the week ended Friday (Jan. 6), according to the latest count from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR).

rigs

Four natural gas-directed rigs exited the patch domestically, alongside three oil-directed rigs. Land drilling declined by eight rigs overall, while the Gulf of Mexico count rose one unit to end at 16. Domestic declines included six horizontal rigs and one vertical rig, with directional drilling unchanged week/week.

The combined 772 active U.S. rigs as of Friday compares with 588 rigs running in the year-earlier period, according to the BKR numbers, which are based partly on data from Enverus.

The Canadian rig count rebounded to end the...