In Brief : Oil and Gas Rig Tally Plunges

HOUSTON — For the fourth week in a row, the number of working oil and natural gas rigs has taken a plunge, this week by 51 to total 789, industry watcher Baker Hughes Inc. reported.

For the last three weeks the count has dropped twice by 32 and once by 36, after an increase of 25 rigs in two weeks. Last week the rig count totaled 840. A year ago, the number of rigs totaled 1,026, Baker Hughes said today.

The decline follows normal seasonal patterns, according to Baker Hughes economist Ike Kerridge.

“I was hoping it would taper off by now,” Kerridge said. “I have no particular explanation for it. I have not heard of any weather conditions being a problem.”

The count usually drops off during late December through late March or early April, he said. “It doesn’t always follow that pattern. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

The count is a widely watched industry index of drilling activity and it reflects the number of rigs actively exploring for oil as of last Friday, not the number of rigs actively producing oil.

Houston-based Hughes Tool Co., an oil toolmaker company that merged with Baker International Corp. of Orange, has kept track of the number of working rigs since 1940.

In December, 1981, at the height of the oil boom, the rig count reached a peak of 4,500.