JPM Shale Land Rig Analysis: Analyzing Activity Trends by Operator, Basin, and Drilling Contractor: Flat U.S. Land Rig Activity WoW

Research evidence excerpt

JPM Shale Land Rig Analysis: Analyzing Activity Trends by Operator, Basin, and Drilling Contractor: Flat U.S. Land Rig Activity WoW

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

06 July 2026

JPM Shale Land Rig Analysis

Analyzing Activity Trends by Operator, Basin, and

Drilling Contractor: Flat U.S. Land Rig Activity WoW

JPM View: Following weeks of rig increases, we observed land rig activity remain Oil & Gas Exploration & Production

ACflat WoW. As highlighted in Figure 1, there were 602 rigs operating in the U.S. over Arun Jayaram

the past week, with Private E&Ps operating 307 rigs (51%), Public E&Ps with 208 (1-212) 622-8541

rigs (34%), and Majors with 88 rigs (15%). Over the past week, we have observed arun.jayaram@jpmchase.com

flat U.S. land activity, driven by Appalachia, Delaware, and Eagle Ford adding +2 Sowmya Vemulapalli

rigs each WoW. These rig additions offset the -1 rig decline each from the DJ, (1-212) 270-4660

Midland, PRB, and Williston basins. Other basins dropped -2 rigs WoW. Among sowmya.vemulapalli@jpmchase.com

public drilling contractors, notable changes included HP adding +2 rigs while both Jason Kim

ESI and PD added +1 rig each. On the other hand, NBR dropped -1 rig while Other (1-212) 622-1408

jason.b.kim@jpmchase.com

contractors dropped -4 rigs WoW. HP is the most active U.S. drilling contractor J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

with 148 active rigs, followed by PTEN (88 rigs), NBR (73 rigs), ESI (38 rigs), and

PD (36 rigs). We note that PTEN reported 96 active rigs as of today, which

compares to the 88 rigs reported by Enverus. In terms of the Private E&P mix, PD

is the most levered to Private operators among the 5 key drillers with 76% of its rigs

contracted by Privates. PTEN has over half of its rigs contracted by Privates (55%),