Oil Rigs Hit Record as Drillers Move Outside Big Basins

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-08/u-s-energy-rigs-gain-19-to-1-908-baker-hughes-says.html



Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. surged to a record as drillers ventured outside the nation’s biggest basins to search for crude in developing plays such as the South-Central Oklahoma Oil Province, known as SCOOP.

Oil rigs jumped by 15 to 1,588 this week, even as the counts in some of the most established basins, including the Permian of Texas and New Mexico, were either unchanged or down, data posted on Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)’s website show. It was the most since Baker Hughes separated the oil and gas rig counts in 1987. Rigs targeting crude outside the major plays jumped by 19 to a record 399, the Houston-based field services company said. The count in Oklahoma rose to the highest level in almost six years.

Drillers are seeking new oil plays as hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling help them pull energy deposits out of shale formations across the U.S. The total U.S. rig count has gained by 151 this year as exploration has boomed, raising domestic crude production last month to the highest level in more than a quarter-century.

“People are looking for new oil in other areas,” James Williams, president of energy consulting firm WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas, said by telephone today. “The potential of return is good because the price of oil is still high and the cost of leasing outside of the major basins is low. If you can discover oil there and have a fairly large leasehold, the potential returns on your investment are high.”