Four more: The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and gas in Louisiana rose by four this week to 82, according to Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc.’s weekly count, released today. The number of rigs exploring in the U.S. increased by 10 this week to 884. Of those, 670 rigs were seeking oil and 213 explored for natural gas. One was listed as miscellaneous. A year ago, 1,908 rigs were active. Among other major oil- and gas-producing states, Texas gained eight rigs, Kansas increased by three, West Virginia gained two, and California and North Dakota each increased by one. Pennsylvania lost three rigs, Colorado declined by two and Ohio lost one. Alaska, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming were unchanged. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed at 488 in 1999.
On the way down: First-time claims for unemployment insurance in Louisiana for the week ending Aug. 1 decreased from the previous week’s total. The state labor department figures released today show the initial claims decreased to 2,479 from the previous week’s total of 2,510. For the comparable week a year earlier, there were 2,293. Construction had the largest decrease in initial claims, followed by health care and social assistance. The four-week moving average, which is a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,784 from the previous week’s total of 2,841. Continued unemployment claims claimed for the week ending Aug. 1 decreased to 27,591 compared to 27,869 the previous week. The four-week moving average for such claims increased to 27,563 from the previous week’s average of 27,316.
Pink slips: The United States shed more oil and gas jobs in July, as oilfield service companies pared their workforce to survive amid low crude prices and tough contract negotiations with exploration firms. FuelFix.com reports some 5,100 workers providing support for extracting mining and extraction lost their jobs during the month, citing the employment report released today. The decline in oilfield service and support employment came despite a small 500-job boost in the upstream oil and gas extraction workforce. Since crude prices started falling last year, those exploration companies have been cutting deeply, slashing capital expenditures, canceling planned investments and laying off workers. Read the full story.
