The number of oil and gas drilling rigs decreases worldwide, due to the falling oil prices, which are below the marginal production cost in many oil-producing countries now. In several U.S. states the quantity of oil rigs, which strongly increased during the shale boom in 2009-2014, has already reached historically low levels.
As the history shows, the decrease in rig count may last for a long time in case of low oil prices. During six years from 2008 to 2014 the number of rigs for natural gas production has decreased 5 times (from 1600+ in Sep 2008 to 340 currently, check the graph at the bottom of the page).
Sources: Baker Hughes Rotary Rig Count, 2015 , North America Rotary Rig Count (Jan 2000 - Current) , World Bank Commodity Price Data (Pink Sheet), January 2015 , Oil Statistics (Production Costs, Breakeven Price)
For further information about rotary rig stats, please visit The Baker Hughes Rig Count FAQ page
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