Well activity onshore in the United States during the fourth quarter of 2014 was up 5 percent year-on-year, despite low oil prices, Baker Hughes said Friday.
The oil services company said there were 9,544 wells in service onshore in the United States, relatively unchanged from the third quarter of 2014.
Oil prices are at the point where some operators in U.S. shale basins are cutting back on their exploration and production budgets. Oil prices on July 1, the start of the third quarter, were around $105 per barrel, but fell 13 percent by the Oct. 1 start of the fourth quarter.
Year-on-year, Baker Hughes said the fourth quarter well count was 5 percent higher during fourth quarter 2014. Oil was priced at about $102 at the start of fourth quarter 2014.
Baker Hughes said the well count increased the most in the emerging Cana Woodford shale in Oklahoma and the Marcellus and associated Utica basins in the eastern United States.
On a short-term basis, the oil service company said things were slowing down in the United States. The number of rigs actively exploring for or developing reserves in the United States in December was 1,882, down 43 from the number counted in November. Year-on-year, however, the rig count for December 2014 was higher by 111.
Market analysts are watching for signs that would suggest the shale oil boom in the United States is slowing down because of the low price of oil. In the Bakken oil play in North Dakota, the government there said oil would need to fall another 6 percent to $45 per barrel before production drops from the current rate of around 1.2 million barrels per day.
