The weekly U.S. rig count reports may look cut-and-dried, but the seesaw in oil and natural gas activity doesn’t tell the full story. Just ask Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. CEO Andy Hendricks.

Rig Count

It’s one thing to denote how many rigs are in operation and in what basins. A more pertinent question, though, is what type of rig is it? 

Hendricks sat down with NGI earlier this month to talk about business. It’s good, he said. However, trying to explain misconceptions about the U.S. rig count often is a “real quandary.”

Exploration and production (E&P) customers are keen on efficiencies. That means that when they have a choice, they’ll take a Tier One rig, or super-spec, with all of the bells and whistles. Often, that means when a super-spec is going up, an older, less...