US rig count up by 8 this week to 923; Wyoming up 4

The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by eight this week to 923.

That's up from the 593 rigs that were active a year ago.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Wednesday that 747 rigs sought oil and 176 explored for natural gas this week. The weekly tabulation, normally released on Friday, was distributed early this week because of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Among major oil- and gas-producing states, Wyoming gained four rigs while Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas were up one apiece.

Utah declined by one.

Alaska, Arkansas, California, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia were unchanged.

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