The number of drilling rigs in the United States is the lowest total on record since Baker Hughes starting counting rigs in 1987, according to the U.S. Energy Information Service.

The count on May 15 was 339 rigs and it may go lower, Kallanish Energy reports.

That count has dropped by 56% or 433 rigs since March 17, the EIA said.

On March 17, there were 772 rigs in the United States.

A total of 308 rigs or 71% of the reduction came in three crude oil-producing plays: the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas and the Bakken Shale in North Dakota and Montana, it said.

The Permian count has dropped by 57% to 175 rigs.

It had 405 rigs in mid-March.

The Eagle Ford and Bakken regions have declined by 64% and 69%, respectively since mid-March.

There are 24 rigs in the Eagle Ford and 16 rigs in the Bakken Shale.

Rig counts have also declined in gas-producing plays, the EIA reported.

Rig counts in the Marcellus and Utica shales in the Appalachian Basin of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have dropped by 23% since mid-March.

In the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and Texas, the rig count dipped by 26% from mid-March to mid-May.

The reductions are due to the coronavirus pandemic and the oil price rout, the agency said.

This post appeared first on Kallanish Energy News.