On the grow: Baton Rouge-based Tillage Construction has expanded into the management arena with Tillage Management Services. The firm says in a news release that the new division will work with clients to “develop long-term, tailored solutions through quality program management, project management and disaster recovery services.” “With nearly two successful decades of experience in the construction industry, the ability to offer management services was a natural progression up the construction value chain,” says Keith Tillage, CEO of the new management division and Tillage Construction.
On the losing end: Houston-based 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 six to 842. In its weekly report, released today, Baker Hughes says 644 rigs were seeking oil and 198 explored for natural gas. A year ago, with oil prices about double the prices now, 1,931 rigs were active. Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah each gained one rig. Louisiana and North Dakota lost three rigs apiece, Pennsylvania declined by two and Kansas and Texas were down one each. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
On the sidelines: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Sept. 12 decreased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released today show the initial claims decreased to 2,015 from the previous week’s total of 2,417. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,071. Wholesale trade had the largest over-the-week decrease with 47 fewer claims. Initial claims for mining, which includes oil and gas exploration and extraction workers, decreased from 111 to 88. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,322 from the previous week’s total of 2,454.
