We recently showed you a stunning animated map from DrillingInfo.com's Kevin Thuot showing the evolution of the last 14 years of fracking in the U.S.
Now Thuot has put together a new incredible GIF showing how oil and gas drilling rigs are moving across states, and the country, in 2014 to the most productive formations.
"We care about rig activity because it is a leading indicator of future production in an area," he writes. "Rig activity in an area today signals new production from that area in the near-term."
The map shows both shale and conventional production centers, which is how we end up with hotspots in Bakersfield, Calif., the Mississippian Lime in Kansas, and the Gulf of Mexico, along with marquee plays like North Dakota's Bakken and Texas' Permian Basin and Eagle Ford.
Oil rigs recently hit a record 1,589 and total rigs were back to a two-year high of 1,913. That's despite the fact that fewer rigs are now needed to drill a given amount of wells, as each new well brings greater knowledge of the formation, and there are now tons of wells in the biggest plays.
And here's the final image:
