Baker Hughes reported Friday that for the week ending December 21, the US rig count fell by 25 to 1,774, following more moderate drops in the three prior weeks. On a year-over-year basis, the US rig count is down by 234 rigs. Rigs drilling for natural gas increased by 13 in the last week to 429 (down 373 year-on-year), not enough of an increase to offset the 41-rig drop in oil-directed drilling--there were 1,340 active oil rigs.
Meanwhile, Canada's rig count was 384, down 34 from last week and down 22 from the same week a year ago.