A slowdown in both oil and natural gas drilling saw the U.S. rig count fall three units to finish at 755 for the week ended Friday (March 31), according to updated figures published by Baker Hughes Co. (BKR).

rigs

Domestic declines for the week included two natural gas-directed rigs and one oil-directed rig. All of the declines occurred on land, with the Gulf of Mexico count unchanged week/week at 17. Three vertical rigs packed up shop during the period, alongside one horizontal unit. Partially offsetting was the addition of one directional rig.

The combined 755 active U.S. rigs as of Friday compares with 673 rigs running in the year-earlier period, according to the BKR numbers, which are partly based on data from Enverus.

The Canadian count, meanwhile, dropped 26 rigs overall to...