Wyoming Rig Count Goes Up

HOUSTON (AP) — Oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. says the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. this week declined by seven to 737.

Houston's Baker Hughes said Friday that 545 rigs were seeking oil and 192 explored for natural gas. A year ago, with oil prices almost double the prices now, 1,920 rigs were active.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Louisiana was down four rigs, Texas dropped three, North Dakota was off by two while Colorado and Utah each declined by one.

Oklahoma and Wyoming gained two rigs apiece.

Alaska, Arkansas, California, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were all unchanged.

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