U.S. drilling rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. dropped three this week to 1,980, according to Baker Hughes.

There were 1,386 rigs seeking oil and 588 looking for natural gas, plus six miscellaneous. A year ago there were 1,854.

In the Barnett Shale, there were 46 active rigs, down from 48 a year ago. For the first time in years, Tarrant County was not the busiest county, as Wise County's nine rigs topped Tarrant and Montague counties, each with seven rigs, and Jack County had six.