	hughes u s rig count rises to u s drilling activity rose last week with the number of working rotary rigs up by to against working rigs one year ago hughes tool co said the improvement was the first increase this year in the weekly rig count which had dropped steadily since early january when a total of rotary rigs were working among individual states texas and oklahoma reported the biggest gains in drilling last week with increases of and respectively california and louisiana were each up by three and wyoming gained two additional working rigs hughes tool said it counted a total of rigs drilling on land rigs active offshore and drilling in inland waters in canada the rig count was up by two to against one year ago reuter 
