Amid a ramp-up in both oil- and natural gas-directed drilling, the United States added five rigs to raise its tally to 484 during the week ended Friday (July 16), according to the latest count from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR).

Three natural gas-directed rigs and two oil-directed rigs were added domestically during the week. The U.S. rig count as of Friday was 231 rigs ahead of the 253 active units in the year-ago period, the BKR numbers, based in part on data from Enverus, show.

Three vertical units, one directional unit and one horizontal unit were added in the United States for the period. Land drilling increased by five units overall, while the Gulf of Mexico count held at 17, up from 12 a year ago.

In Canada, six oil-directed rigs and seven gas-directed rigs were added...