There are 237 Horizontal Rigs actively drilling in the Permian Basin. There are another 28 directional drilling rigs actively working.
Room to grow is not the same as a low count.
http://gis.bakerhughesdirect.com/RigCounts/default2.aspx
At the following link select “Trajectory” from the legend on the left and “Permian” in the basins at the bottom.
For comparison, DJ and the Niobrara combined have 54 horizontal and directional drill rigs active. Eagle Ford has 198, Wilston (Bakken) has 176.
I don’t see how to consider the Permian being a low horizontal rig count.
your last post on this question said that the permian basin moved to 35% horizontal drills. This year they expected to go to 50% horizontal rigs.
The niobrara production zones would be 100% horizontal drills
“Room to grow is not the same as a low count.” Agree on this.
So it may well be that the problem in the Permian is that they have not figured out where the sweet spots are as they have in the Niobrara, the Baaken and the Eagle Ford...and some parts of the Woodford. They have not figured out where to place platforms so that they are perfectly situated over multiple deep oil layers that they can frack from the same platform. Consequently the horizontal drilling rigs are not put to their best advantage.