US Oil Drillers See Minor Uptick in Activity
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose again this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Thursday, following a 2-rig increase in the prior week.
The total rig count in the US rose by 2 to 587 rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 26 from this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs rose by 2 to 483—down by 23 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week, to 99 for a loss of 6 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs lost a rig and now stands at 5.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production dipped slightly, from 13.462 million bpd to 13.460 million bpd. The figure is 171,000 bpd down from the all-time high reached during the week of December 6, 2024.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose during the week of April 18 to 200, compared to 195 in the week prior—even with levels at the beginning of the year.
WTI is trading up on the day, but still slightly below what the Dallas Fed Survey says is the breakeven for Permian players, with drilling activity in the basin holding fast at 289—a figure that is 29 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford also stayed the same this week, at 47. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are 8 below where they were this time last year.
At 12:29 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.23 per barrel (+0.37%) on the day at $63.02, down roughly $1.40 per barrel from last Friday’s price. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.23 (+0.35%) on the day at $66.78— down $1 per barrel from last Friday.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com