The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 3 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published Friday, after falling 4 last week.
The total rig count fell to 748 this week—55 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022—still 327 rigs lower than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Oil rigs in the United States decreased by 2 this week, for the secnd week in a row, landing at 588. Gas rigs fell by 1 to 157. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same.
The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 3. Rigs in the Eagle Ford fell by 2.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells—a more frugal use of finances than drilling new wells, fell by 8 for the week ending April 6, reaching 287. This is 11 rigs more than a month ago, and 12 more than a year ago.
Crude oil production in the United States rose by 100,000 bpd for the week ending April 7 to 12.3 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 500,000 bpd versus a year ago.
At 12:28 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.19 (+0.23%) on the day at $82.35 $80.69, up roughly $1.60 per barrel from last Thursday.
The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.04 (+0.05%) at $86.13 per barrel on the day, but up around $1 per barrel last Thursday.
WTI was trading at $82.50 minutes after the data release, up 0.41% on the day.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com