The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose substantially this week, bucking the recent downward trend, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday.
The total rig count rose by 8 to 590 this week, compared to 641 rigs this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs rose by 5 this week after staying the same in the three weeks prior. Oil rigs now stand at 488-down by 27 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 3 this week to 97, a loss of 24 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 5.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production stayed the same for the week ending September 6, according to weekly estimates published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly oil production in the United States, according to the EIA, is just 100,000 from its all-time high.
Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells that are unfinished, fell again in the week ending September 6, from 222 to 220, adding onto the last four weeks of losses.
Drilling activity in the Permian stayed the same this week at 306, a figure that is 16 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford also stayed the same this week at 48 after staying the same in the week prior. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are now 1 below where they were this time last year.
Oil prices rose slightly on Friday after they tried to find solid footing after a rough couple of weeks that saw more than $10 shaved off of a Brent barrel in the absence of a fundamental shift that would warrant such a drop off. At 12:20 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.29 (+0.42%) on the day at $69.26-a nearly $2 gain week over week. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.28 (+0.44%) on the day at $72.29-a roughly $1.50 per barrel gain compared to last Friday.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More
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