UPDATE: Wyoming Economic Analysis Division Senior Economic Analyst Dylan Bainer said on Monday that the rig count data in the Sept. MACRO Report came from Baker Hughes, who provide rig counts for the oil and gas industry.
Bainer noted that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission have communicated that Baker Hughes’ count differs from their rig count for September. He said that Wyoming average a total of three oil and gas rigs throughout Sept. 2020.
Due to the discrepancy between different sources tracking oil and rig counts, Bainer said the Economic Analysis Division would look at possible adjustments to how they report rig count data in future reports.
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This article has been updated to reflect this information.
CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming’s fossil fuel energy sector is hurting.
The State of Wyoming’s Economic Analysis Division have released their Sept. 2020 Wyoming MACRO Report, “a quarterly publication that consists of charts focusing on employment, energy, state revenues, and other indicators providing an overview of Wyoming’s economy.”
The report shows that oil and gas jobs in Wyoming were down 31.5% in Aug. 2020 compared with Aug. 2019. That amounts to 4,100 less oil and gas jobs during the month.
The state also lost 500 oil and gas jobs from July to Aug. There were a total of 8,900 oil and gas jobs in Aug., according to the report.
Oil rig counts have remained low “amid struggling oil prices,” the Economic Analysis Division adds. While the report states that there was only oul rig operating in Sept., Wyoming Economic Analysis Division Senior Economic Analyst Dylan Bainer said on Monday that the report relied on Baker Hughes rig count.
However, he added on Monday that the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission had other data showing that Wyoming averaged a total of three oil and gas rigs throughout Sept. 2020.
Bainer said that the Economic Analysis Division was considering adjusting how they report rig count data in future reports due to the discrepancy between sources.
“A year ago, there were 25 oils rigs and 11 gas rigs,” the report adds. “The price of Opal gas averaged $2.25 for the month of September,
just $0.01 less than September last year. The price of West Texas Intermediate oil averaged $39.63 in September, $17.31 less than September 2019.”
Coal production has also been on the decline. The report states that coal production was down 27.3% in July 2020 compared with July 2019.
Oil production and natural gas withdrawals declined by 16.0% and 3.4%
year-over-year, respectively,” the report adds.
