U.S. drilling rig count down by 17 to 1,896

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Houston • Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. fell 17 this week to 1,896.

The Houston firm said Friday in its weekly report that 1,564 rigs were exploring for oil and 330 for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,776 active rigs.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Kansas gained two rigs while Arkansas, Louisiana, West Virginia and Wyoming each rose by one.

Texas declined by 13 rigs, Alaska was off three, North Dakota was down two and California, Colorado, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania dropped one apiece.

New Mexico, Ohio and Utah were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.