Real-Time Visibility into the American Well Pad

Not all rig counts are created equal. The way drilling activity is measured determines how complete, how accurate, and how actionable the data is. Understanding the differences between methodologies helps explain why some counts consistently underreport activity, and why Rextag built its approach to solve that problem. 

The longest-running rig count in the industry, Baker Hughes, published since 1944, is built on a network of field representatives who maintain direct contact with drilling crews and operators across their districts. A rig qualifies as active if it is physically on location and drilling, defined as "turning to the right," for at least four out of seven days in a given week. The count window begins at spud and ends at total depth.  

This approach has real strengths: it produces a consistent, long-running time series with clearly defined criteria. The fundamental limitation, however, is coverage. The data depends on voluntary communication and human reporting across a distributed network of contacts. Not every operator reports, not every survey gets returned, and not every rig in the field is captured in a given week. The result is a count that is widely acknowledged to underreport actual drilling activity, particularly among smaller operators and in less-trafficked basins. 

Some providers have moved beyond survey-based counting by equipping rigs with proprietary GPS units, enabling daily location tracking and near-real-time activity monitoring. This is a meaningful improvement in timeliness and precision. When a rig has a GPS unit on it, its location and movement are known, and updates can be published daily rather than weekly. 

The constraint is participation. GPS coverage is limited to rigs that have been enrolled in the tracking network. Rigs operating outside that enrolled fleet are invisible to the system or must be tracked through supplemental methods. Coverage is strong where participation is strong, but gaps exist wherever hardware has not been deployed. 

Rextag's activity tracker takes a fundamentally different approach, one that is independent of industry participation, voluntary reporting, or hardware deployment agreements. 

Our system analyzes Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery across U.S. well pad locations. SAR is a radar-based imaging technology that operates regardless of weather conditions or time of day, providing consistent coverage across the full geographic footprint of U.S. drilling activity. We apply a proprietary AI detection algorithm trained to identify the radar signatures associated with active surface equipment, specifically the large mechanical footprint generated by a drilling rig or a frac crew on location. 

Because our detection is driven by satellite observation rather than self-reporting or hardware enrollment, our coverage does not depend on who is willing to share data or who has installed a GPS unit. Every well pad in our coverage area is subject to the same detection methodology, regardless of operator, drilling contractor, or service provider. 

Comparative validation confirms that Rextag's methodology captures all activity detected by survey and GPS-based approaches, and more. We consistently identify active locations that do not appear in other published counts. 

At the resolution of the SAR imagery we use today, our algorithm detects significant surface mechanical activity at a well pad but cannot always distinguish between a drilling rig and a frac crew. Both generate a detectable radar signature. As a result, our reported count reflects combined drilling and completion activity and will run modestly higher than a pure drilling-only count. 

Every location in our count has been reviewed and confirmed by a member of our team before publication. We do not publish algorithmically flagged locations without human sign-off. The practical implication: Rextag's count is likely to be slightly above a pure drilling-only count than to miss active locations. We may include some frac crews alongside drilling rigs. We are very unlikely to miss either. For customers who need confidence that no significant activity is going undetected, that is the right trade-off.