by Jason Simpkins
Outsider Club
How bad has it gotten for oil companies?
They’ve cut so much spending that there are only 502 drilling rigs still active in the country, according to the latest Baker Hughes count. In the next few weeks, that could fall below 488 — the lowest level on record.
Drill rig record-keeping began in 1958, so the history is murky, but Paul Hornsell, head of commodities research for Standard Chartered Bank, says you’d have to go back to the 1860s to find a time with so little activity.
That’s shortly after the Pennsylvania oil rush began in 1859.