Rigs targeting oil and natural gas in the U.S. declined by one this week to 1,738, according to Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) Oil rigs dropped four to 1,357, data posted on the company’s website show. The gas count rose four to 376, the Houston-based field services company said. Miscellaneous rigs fell by one to five. The U.S. total count has declined by 44 since Aug. 2 as producers adopted new technologies to shorten drilling times and boost well productivity in shale formations, weakening demand for new equipment. The amount of crude produced per rig in the U.S. has surged to a record in both North Dakota ’s Bakken and Texas ’s Eagle Ford plays, according to the Energy Information Administration. “New technologies for drilling and producing natural gas and oil have made traditional measures of productivity, such as a simple count of active rotary drilling rigs, obsolete,” the EIA, […]