The first quarter of 2025 delivered some telling insights into the direction of U.S. drilling activity, revealing not only who the top players are but also how much market share they’re capturing. In this blog, we explore:
- The Top 5 Drilling Providers by wells drilled
- A Quarter-over-Quarter Comparison against Q4 2024
- The Top 10 Operators and the percentage of their wells drilled by these leading providers
- A look at unique rig usage trends
🔧 Top 5 Drilling Providers in 2025Q1 bt Wells Drilled
Helmerich & Payne led the field with 580 wells drilled, followed by Patterson-UTI, Nabors, Ensign, and AKITA. These five contractors together accounted for nearly 75% of all wells drilled in Q1 2025.
Chart: Top 5 Drilling Providers in 2025Q1 by wells drilled in the Permian
🔁 QOQ Comparison: 2025Q1 vs. 2024Q4
When compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2024), all of the top 5 contractors increased their activity, signalling momentum as the year began.
- Helmerich & Payne: +20% quarter-over-quarter growth
- Patterson-UTI: +7%
- Nabors: +31%
- Ensign: +3%
- AKITA: saw a slight drop but remained in the top 5
Chart: Top Drilling Providers – Quarter over Quarter
🏗️ Top 10 Accounts by % Wells Drilled by Top 5 Providers (Q1 2025)
A deeper look into the operators benefiting from these top drillers shows that XTO Energy Inc. had nearly all its wells (97.5%) drilled by the top 5 contractors. EOG Resources and Mewbourne Oil also heavily relied on this elite group.
Account Name Wells Drilled by Top 5 Total Wells (Q1) % Drilled by Top 5 XTO Energy Inc. 194 199 97.5% EOG Resources, Inc. 96 103 93.2% Mewbourne Oil Co. 71 71 100% OXY USA Inc. 96 146 65.8% Diamondback Energy 71 114 62.3%
Chart: % Wells Drilled by Top 5 per Account (See above)
🏷️ Unique Rig Utilization: Q1 2025 vs Q4 2024
An often-overlooked yet critical metric is the diversity of rigs used by each drilling contractor. In Q1 2025, Helmerich & Payne led again—not only in record count but also in rig diversity, deploying 100 unique rigs, up from 99 in Q4 2024. Patterson-UTI and Nabors also showed consistent rig utilization. AKITA, on the other hand, saw a slight reduction.
Drilling Provider Unique Rigs Q4 2024 Unique Rigs Q1 2025 Helmerich & Payne, Inc. 99 100 Patterson-UTI Drilling Co., LLC 54 53 Nabors Industries, Ltd. 31 30 Ensign Energy Services, Inc. 21 22 AKITA Drilling 12 11
Chart: Unique Rigs per Provider – Q1 vs Q4 (See above)
🔍 Final Thoughts
From increased drilling activity to consistent rig deployment and strong operator relationships, Q1 2025 paints a picture of steady growth in the U.S. onshore market. For service companies, this is a signal to double down on relationships with high-volume drillers and operators who are consistently leveraging top-tier contractors.
