The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell sharply this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The total rig count in the US fell by 10 to 544 this week, according to Baker Hughes, down 38 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs saw a big dip in the reporting period, according to the data, falling by 12 rigs and reaching 407. Year over year, this represents a 70-rig decline. The number of gas rigs rose by 3 to 130, which is 30 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count dipped by 1 to 7.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell for the second week in a row in the week ending November 21 to 13.814 million bpd on average, 48,000 bpd under the all-time high.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose for the second week in a row in the week ending November 21, gaining 4 to reach 179. This is down from 201 at the beginning of the year.
The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin fell by 3, sinking to 251 this week, which is 52 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford fell by 2, landing at 39, which is 9 fewer than this same time last year. Granite Wash also saw a 2-rig decline in the reporting period.
By 1:37 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was recovering from its earlier deficit, marking a $0.29 gain on the day to $58.24 The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.20 per barrel, at $62.69—up $0.30 week over week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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