Remember that rebound we've been expecting for the US land rig count now that the industry's financial turmoil has stabilized? Well, it appears to be happening faster than many expected, according to some recent research by Credit Suisse analyst Arun Jayaram.
Among other things, Jayaram found that a 14% rig-count boost from fourth quarter of 2009 during just the first half of the first quarter already matches the percentage gain for the entire fourth quarter of last year when compared with the third.
To elaborate, he says the US land rig count has averaged 1,194 for the first quarter so far, compared with an average of 1,048 during the fourth and a low point of 774 back in May of last year. And, despite the persistence of lower natural gas prices compared with a boom in oil prices, Jayaram also found that gas drilling is helping to fuel the acceleration so far this year, with the gas rig count up 16% to 802.
Drilling down into the data geographically, Jayaram finds the most significant gains have occurred in Oklahoma at 30%; Texas at 19%; North Dakota and Louisiana at 15% each; and, New Mexico at 14%. In addition, he found that the unconventional rig count growth is actually lagging the pack as operators demonstrate renewed interest in US onshore opportunities wherever they might be.
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