U.S. Drillers Start Out The New Year With A Whimper
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States stayed the same again this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, after seeing no change in the three weeks prior.
The total rig count remained flat at 589 total rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 32 from this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs dipped by 1—down by 19 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1, to 103, a loss of 15 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 4.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production for the week ending December 27 dipped slightly to 13.573 million bpd, from 13.585 million bpd in the week ending December 20, slightly off the all-time high of 13.631 million bpd reached during the week of December 6, 2024.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells that are unfinished, fell the third week in a row during week ending December 27, from 210 to 201—dropping 35 from the beginning of the year.
There was no change in drilling activity in the Permian Basin, hovering at 304 active rigs—a figure that is 7 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same at 45. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are now just 8 below where they were this time last year.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday before the data release. At 11:23 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.59 per barrel (+0.81%) on the day at $73.72, up roughly $3.50 per barrel compared to last Friday’s price. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.40 (+0.53%) on the day at $76.33—also roughly $2.50 per barrel compared to last Friday’s price.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com