U.S. natgas rig count edges up 1 to 688 for week

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eskardu	U.S. natgas rig count edges up 1 to 688 for week	Lead	[-]
Member Posts: 6038 (07/02/09 16:20:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	U.S. natgas rig count edges up 1 to 688 for week Thu Jul 2, 2009 2:54pm EDT NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - The number of rigs drilling for natural gas in the United States unexpectedly rose again, the second gain in seven months, according to a report on Thursday by oil services firm Baker Hughes in Houston. The report showed U.S. gas drilling rigs edged up 1 to 688 this week, still 851 rigs, or 55 percent, below the same week last year, when there were 1,539 gas rigs operating. U.S. natural gas drilling rigs have been in a mostly steady decline since peaking above 1,600 in September, but two weeks ago the count rose for the first time since November 2008. Sources said the gas rig count decline seemed to be slowing just below the 700 mark, despite still-weak natural gas prices, possibly because some prolific shale plays like Haynesville in Louisiana or Marcellus in Appalachia may still be economic. Tighter access to credit and a 70 percent slide in natural gas prices to about $3.50 per mmBtu, after peaking above $13 last July, have forced many producers to scale back drilling operations. But, with the natural gas drilling rig count below 700, most analysts expect to see year-on-year output declines soon, which should help tighten the overall supply-demand balance. (Reporting by Joe Silha; Editing by Walter Bagley) "All Is Well"
mancovaldez	Drill Bits: Rig Count Picks Up Again. Why?	#1	[-]
Member Posts: 10164 (07/03/09 00:06:26) Moderator Extraordinaire Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Drill Bits: Rig Count Picks Up Again. Why? By Ben Casselman Sure, oil prices aren't anywhere close to last year's record, but one theme from last summer survives: Drill, baby, drill. (It's about six minutes in.) Drilled, baby, drilled. Baker Hughes is out with its weekly rig count, and for the third time in a row, the number of drilling rigs running in the U.S. is up from the previous week. At 928, the count is now up 5% from its June 12 nadir. That's still less than half the 1,921 rigs that were running at this time a year ago (the count eventually peaked at more than 2,000), but the recent increase has led some analysts to speculate that the unprecedented collapse in U.S. drilling activity has begun to reverse. Most of the new drilling is targeting oil, not gas, which makes sense given the diverging paths of the two commodities. Oil prices have stalled recently, but they're still almost double their low in December, and $70 oil is enough to make most drilling projects profitable. Oil drilling is up more than 25% in the past month. Gas drilling is a different story. After plummeting more than 50% between September and April, the gas rig count has been pretty much flat since May, and even ticked up slightly this week. And some of the hottest gas plays, such as Louisiana's Haynvesville Shale and the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia, have seen drilling pick up in recent weeks, even as gas prices have continued to fall. Why are companies continuing to drill at such lousy prices? Well, for one, they need the revenue. But another factor is that many producers have raised cash in recent weeks, either by selling shares, issuing debt or, most recently, selling assets. All that money has taken some of the financial pressure off companies, and made it easier for them to resume drilling. Of course, that only adds to the downward pressure on prices. That's good news for consumers and for oilfield services companies eager to put their rigs back to work. But not so much for producers themselves, who keep discovering new shale plays full of gas that no one seems to want. Well, almost no one .
mancovaldez	Number of active oil rigs up by 11	#2	[-]
Member Posts: 10164 (07/03/09 00:10:53) Moderator Extraordinaire Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Number of active oil rigs up by 11 Baker Hughes says number of active oil rigs climbed by 11 to 928 On Thursday July 2, 2009, 2:42 pm EDT HOUSTON (AP) -- The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States rose by 11 this week to 928, the third consecutive week for an uptick after months of declines. Of the rigs running nationwide, 688 were exploring for natural gas and 229 for oil, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Thursday. Eleven were listed as miscellaneous. The report was released a day early because of the July Fourth holiday. A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,921. The number of active rigs has increased by 52 in the past few weeks, but the U.S. count is still down 54 percent since the end of August as weak energy demand has hampered oilfield activity. Oil prices peaked at almost $150 a barrel last July before plunging. On Thursday, benchmark crude for August delivery lost $2.34 cents to $66.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest point in a month. Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, North Dakota and Oklahoma each added three rigs, Colorado and New Mexico each added two, and California and Wyoming each gained one. Louisiana lost a rig, and Texas, Arkansas and Alaska were unchanged. Baker Hughes has tracked rig counts since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted several record lows in 1999, bottoming out at 488.
mancovaldez	The Oil Rig Glut	#3	[-]
Member Posts: 10164 (07/03/09 00:15:52) Moderator Extraordinaire Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The Oil Rig Glut Melinda Peer, 07.02.09, 01:30 PM EDT Rig counts are better than expected but demand for oil products remains weak, compounding price pressures. Although the number of drilling rigs in operation in North American for the second quarter is 30 rigs higher than previously forecast 990, pricing pressures during the quarter have been more intense than anticipated. LaMotte lowered his second-quarter estimates on six oil service companies and downwardly revised 2009-10 estimates by an average of 10% to 12% on account of challenging margins. Companies across the oilfield services sector traded broadly lower during Thursday's afternoon trading session with the Oil Service Holdrs ( OIH - news - people ) exchange-traded fund down by $4.21, or 4.3%, at $93.15. Baker Hughes ( BHI - news - people ) shed 4.4% at $34.85, Halliburton ( HAL - news - people ) lost 5.5% at $19.56 and Schlumberger ( SLB - news - people ) was down by 4.0% at $52.09. BJ Services ( BJS - news - people ), which LaMotte upgraded to "neutral" from "underweight" for its risk/reward, long-term value, was only down by 53 cents, or 3.9%, at $12.97. Smith International ( SII - news - people ) and Weatherford International ( WFT - news - people ), whose estimates were also reduced, were down by 5.5% and 6.4%, respectively. Crude for August delivery was down by $2.45, or 3.5%, to $66.86 a barrel in New York. That's way up from a low of $30 but investors are still debating the thesis that a recovering global economy will give way to higher crude prices as industrial demand picks up. In the near term, inventories are high and some doubt that even the current level is unsustainable by the fundamentals, though a price around $70 a barrel seems to be where the Organization of Petroleum Producing States is most comfortable. Earlier in the week, UBS analyst William Featherston noted that the sharp decline in gasoline cracks has left refining margins below the five-year range and predicted that refiners may reduce run rates until demand improves.