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    Environment and Energy

    Drilling Rigs Down in Both USA & Canada

    Written by Brett Linton


    According to Baker Hughes data from September 18, 2015, the U.S rig count for the week was 842 rigs exploring for or developing oil or natural gas. This is a decrease of 6 rigs when compared to last week, with oil rigs down 8 to 644 rigs, gas rigs up 2 to 198 rigs, and miscellaneous rigs unchanged at 0 rigs. Compared to this time last year, the 842 count is down 1,089 rigs, with oil rigs down 957, gas rigs down 131 and miscellaneous rigs down 1.

    The decline in the drilling of new gas and oil wells is having a direct impact on the amount of line pipe, storage tanks, and OCTG that is being used by the energy sector. A good portion of these products come from hot rolled coil or plate substrate, and are reasons for both the short lead times on hot rolled and plate at North American steel producers and the falling steel prices we have seen going back to mid-2014. Prices have since stabilized for hot rolled coil but the product is having a difficult time breaking out of a very narrow trading range partially due to the weakness in the energy sector.

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