The U.S. natural gas rig count climbed three units to reach 130 for the week ended Friday (March 4), while declining activity in the oil patch left the overall domestic drilling tally unchanged, updated figures from Baker Hughes Co. (BKR) show.

rig count

The gain of three natural gas-directed rigs was offset by a decline of three oil-directed rigs for the period. That left the combined U.S. rig count unchanged at 650 as of Friday, well ahead of the 403 rigs running in the year-earlier period, according to the BKR numbers, which are partly based on data from Enverus.

Total Gulf of Mexico rigs held flat at 12 for the period. Two horizontal rigs were added week/week, offsetting declines of one directional rig and one vertical unit.

In Canada, the rig count slid seven units to 217 for the...