The U.S. natural gas rig count climbed two units to 118 for the week ending Friday (Oct. 6), while a pullback in oil-directed drilling lowered total domestic rigs by four to 619, according to the latest tally from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR).
The U.S. oil rig count fell by five to 497 for the period, with one miscellaneous rig also exiting the patch. Land drilling was down four week/week in the United States, with Gulf of Mexico rigs unchanged at 18. Two directional rigs and two vertical rigs exited domestically, while horizontal rigs were unchanged for the period, according to BKR.
The combined 619 active U.S. rigs as of Friday compares with 762 rigs running in the year-ago period, according to the BKR numbers, which are partly based on data from Enverus.
Price bulls, galvanized by continued production drops, powered natural gas futures close to a fifth consecutive gain on Wednesday before they fizzled in afternoon trading amid profit-taking. The June Nymex gas futures contract ultimately settled at $2.187/MMBtu, down 2.0 cents day/day. At A Glance: Output slips close to 95 Bcf/d Weather to shift in bears’…