National rig count down by 4 to 1,044; West Virginia loses 3

The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by four this week to 1,044.

At this time a year ago there were 954 active rigs.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that 859 rigs drilled for oil this week and 183 for gas. Two were listed as miscellaneous.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Wyoming gained two rigs and Louisiana and Pennsylvania each increased by one.

West Virginia lost three rigs, Colorado and New Mexico each decreased by two and Alaska and North Dakota each lost one.

Arkansas, California, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah were unchanged.

The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May 2016 at 404.