ExxonMobil is now the nation’s most active gas driller, replacing long-time champion Chesapeake Energy Corp. as the oil and gas industry closes quickly on a projected 150-unit drop in gas-directed rig count that sell-side analysts are projecting for 2012.

ExxonMobil currently has 41 rigs classified as gas-directed domestically compared to 24 for Chesapeake. However, that transition happened quickly. As of Jan. 20, 2012, Chesapeake operated 70 units classified as gas-directed. That number fell to 46 on Feb. 10, and dropped an additional 22 units in the last two weeks. ExxonMobil went from a distant second in gas-directed rig count during the month of January to the nation’s leading gas driller midway through February despite a modest two-unit gain in its gas-directed activity.

Hart’s Unconventional Activity Tracker identified 570 rigs as gas-directed at the end of February 2011. That number is down 100 units from the 670 recorded during the first week in 2012, and down 116 units from the 2012 peak of 686 rigs classified as gas-directed on Jan. 20.

The first 60 days of 2012 certainly fits within the new consensus that gas-directed drilling will decline in 2012. But the second part of the narrative projects a corresponding increase in oil and liquids drilling that will offset the decline in gas-directed drilling, moving overall 2012 rig count averages to a marginally net positive level versus 2011.

That, too, appears to be the case. The industry added 99 units to the oil-directed rig count since the first week in January and 96 units in the last 30 days, largely offsetting the 100 unit decline in gas-directed drilling.

Thus, a land rig count that began in 2012 at 1,540 units, according to the Hart Unconventional Activity Tracker, stood at 1,539 units as of the Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, sample date. Sixty days into 2012, rig count was unchanged, despite the significant evolution in the oil/gas mix.

It is instructive to look at the details behind those numbers.

As 2012 began, the top four gas-directed operators included Chesapeake (63), ExxonMobil (39), Devon (33), and Anadarko (31) -- all of whom had more than 30 rigs listed as gas-directed.

Sixty days later, the top four gas drilling programs included ExxonMobil (41), Devon (31), BHP-Billiton (30), and Chesapeake (24).

Of note, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. account for the majority decrease in gas-directed rig count during the first 60 days of 2012. The two together have decreased gas-directed activity by 55 units, or more than half of the 100-unit drop in 2012. So, if the industry were to lose another 50 gas-directed rigs to meet existing forecasts, it is difficult to see where those additional cuts will come from. In other words, the decline in gas-directed drilling to date has largely reflected the actions of a handful of oil and gas operators rather than a systemic change in the industry.

Chesapeake also figures heavily the increase in oil-directed activity in 2012 with a net 18-unit change, or nearly one in five of the 99-unit gain over the first of the year. Unlike the gas-directed situation, the change in oil-directed drilling has not influenced the rankings among the top five oil-directed drilling companies.

Chesapeake’s numbers are likely to rise further as units listed as rigging up in the Midcontinent begin drilling in an expanded Mississippi Lime program that appears ready to add another eight to 12 rigs to Chesapeake’s oil-directed activity.

While the change from gas-directed to oil/liquids directed activity is notable on a numerical basis, there is some evidence that the change is semantic. In late January, the Midcontinent recorded a significant change involving a sharp drop in gas-directed drilling coupled with a similar increase in oil-directed activity.

It appears industry metrics are in a state of flux as 2012 gets under way. That flux is creating material change as the list of top gas drillers evolves, leaving ExxonMobil as the undisputed champ domestically. However other elements of the change from gas to liquids is found, rather prosaically, in how the industry classifies rigs by commodity objective.