U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises for Third Consecutive Week

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday.

The total rig count in the US rose to 542, according to Baker Hughes, down 46 from this same time last year. The rig count is still near four-year lows.

The number of oil rigs rose by 2 for the third week in a row, reaching 418. Year over year, this represents a 70-rig decline. The number of gas rigs stayed the same at 118 for a gain of 22 active gas rigs from this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count rose by 1 to 6.

The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell in the week ending September 12, from 13.495 million bpd to 13.482 million bpd. Average weekly oil production in the United States is now 81,000 barrel per day under where it was at the beginning of the year. 

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells rose for week ending September 12 to 169. This is just 7 above the four-year low.

The Permian Basin has seen a slowdown in drilling in recent months, but held steady over the last couple of weeks at 254, which is 53 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford also stayed the same, at 42, which is 6 fewer than this time last year. This week’s gains were seen in DJ-Niobrara (+2) and Granite Wash (+1).

At 12:51 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.71 per barrel (-1.12%) on the day at $62.86, a figure that is $0.10 above this time last week. The Brent benchmark was trading down $0.78 (-1.16%) on Friday at $66.66. 

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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