12 Rigs, Oil And Gas, Launched In U.S. This Week Despite Gulf Oil Spill

HOUSTON — The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by 12 this week to 1,518.

Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. said Friday that 969 rigs were exploring for natural gas and 538 for oil. Eleven were listed as miscellaneous. A year ago this week, the rig count stood at 900.

Of the major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained 11 rigs, Oklahoma gained five, New Mexico gained two and Colorado gained one. Louisiana lost two rigs and Alaska, Arkansas and West Virginia each lost one. California, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and Wyoming were unchanged.

The rig count tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted a record low of 488 in 1999.

Comments

[Bushwhacked]

03:29 AM on 05/24/2010

Watch and share this video! Important stuff starts at 1:50. The narrator uses foul language to mimic the oil guys who sit through the class, if they actually attend, and then go drinking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx8kMXufu3w
BP sent everyone except the oil rig guys to booming school. Guess who's laying the booms in the gulf? The oil rig folks! Here's a link to an article with photos pretty much validating her point that the booms are laid wrong.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/05/gulf_oil_spill_coast_guard_say.html

[maxfax]

09:53 AM on 05/23/2010

And when it spills? Not if, when...Isn't crude considered a hazardous material? Aren't there rules for handling it? Oh wait a minute, if you're a multi-national multi-billion dollar company rules don't apply. Politicians made sure of it.

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

12:39 AM on 05/23/2010

ahhhhgggghhh............12-fuel pumps at my
local gas station pump continuously, today
dispite gulf oil spill.

[Rudderman]

09:58 PM on 05/23/2010

Raise the gas tax, fuel is too cheap...half the price per liter/gallon of Europe. Nothing would move our country forward faster than raising the price of gas/diesel to reflect it's real cost (see Gulf) and value

[Lpeter]

12:06 AM on 05/23/2010

I ride an electri bike and went vegetarisn. Peace. Be the change. Double peace.

[Lpeter]

12:05 AM on 05/23/2010

We are going to pay for this. Mother is getting angry.

[unionave]

10:54 PM on 05/22/2010

The SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) recently said present plans are for at least ten more years of gasoline engines . Which means we will have ten more years of oil gushers , spills , and other accidents . We have been dealing with the exploitation of oil for nearly two centuries . One would think that after two hundred years of problems with oil there would be some knowledge or written information on how to address these problems . Until they can figure out how to operate a truck on battery power this stuff is going to be around for a long time to come .

[TRichards]

10:26 PM on 05/22/2010

There is a terribly naive assumption behind some of these posts -- that we have the technology to clean this mess up if only we'd deploy it. We don't. The problem with drilling is that we have NO solutions other than to hope that nature can handle it. Maybe it can someday but it seems to me that the La Brea tar pits may be telling us that it will take a LONG time -- certainly a long time past OUR lifetimes.

I wonder if Drill Baby Drill will be cheerfully chanted at the Republican convention of 2014 by the folks who brought us Georgie "Mano a Mano" Bush; Karl, "the brain" Rove; Mitch, "the obstruction" McConnell; John "Smiley" Boehner; Joe "Scream Lies to Power" Wilson; and Sarah, "the Cheerful Ignoramus" Palin.

[riversideliberal]

10:15 PM on 05/22/2010

If you decide to buy some tigers, you need first to buy cages. Otherwise, well....

If you build tall buildings, you need first to invent fire escapes, fire trucks with long ladders, and big nets. Otherwise, you get incidents like the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

If you drill on the ocean floor, you need first to invent submarines capable of fixing a leak promptly. Otherwise, you get incidents like the Gulf and the long-term destruction of ecosystems and economic structures.

Why didn't sufficient technology exist before these companies began to drill? Before, that is, they were allowed by the government to drill? Why are they making it up as they go along?

[mrjames1]

06:29 AM on 05/23/2010

i like the way you think. well said.

[PJay1]

08:59 PM on 05/22/2010

Sickening.
Absolutely sickening.

[ConservativeAmerica]

07:45 PM on 05/22/2010

That's all? Only 12? We should be pumping out 50 per week. Plus, 12 nuclear plants should be done each month.

[planetjeffy]

07:30 PM on 05/22/2010

From what I can tell - these are land based rigs - not ocean drilling platforms

so don't get allPissy.

[WalterJesseSmith]

07:24 PM on 05/22/2010

Aha, now we are getting the details of how Obama is changing business as usual: More oil wells, more pseudo-reform legislation, more walking loudly with no stick.

[Twentylaws]

06:26 PM on 05/22/2010

Scientists Obama sent announced today the oil in the marshes are impossible to remove. Louisiana will just have to wait for mother nature to take care of the oil. And so it begins the end...

[DMSmith]

05:06 PM on 05/22/2010

It's dumbfounding to realize how long we've known and seen clearly that this problem was coming straight at us - rapidly. Yet we have done virtually nothing.
The time is long past to move FULLY to new energy sources. I drive a diesel car run on bio-diesel, and am looking at ways to re-power my home in California. If someone else won't WE must!

[N8tracks]

03:54 PM on 05/22/2010

Oil is evil until you need it.