According to new data published by Baker Hughes on Friday, the total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the United States fell this week.
The total rig count fell by 2 to 586 this week, compared to 642 rigs this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs fell by 2 this week after rising by three in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 483-down by 37 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week to 98, a loss of 19 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs fell from 6 to 5.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production slipped during the week ending August 9, according to weekly estimates published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly oil production in the United States, according to the EIA, has slipped 100,000 bpd, back to the previous record high of 13.3 million bpd.
Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells that are unfinished, fell in the week ending August 9, from 243 to 240, partially countering last week's 6-crew gain.
Drilling activity in the Permian fell by 1 this week to 303, a figure that is 24 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford fell by 2 this week, sitting at 48 after staying the same in the week prior. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are now 5 below where they were this time last year.
Oil prices continued to fall on Friday. At 12:35 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $1.27 (-1.62%) on the day at $76.89-a $0.15 loss week over week. The Brent benchmark was trading down $1.14 (-1.41%) on the day at $79.90-a $0.10 gain week over week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More