The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell again this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday.
The total rig count fell by 1 to 582 this week, compared to 632 rigs this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs stayed the same this week after staying the same in the two weeks prior. Oil rigs now stand at 483—down by 30 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1 this week to 94, a loss of 19 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 August 30, according to weekly estimates published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly oil production in the United States, according to the EIA, have now returned to their 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 again in the week ending August 30, from 229 to 222, adding onto the last three weeks of losses. Finishing crews are now at their lowest in three years.
Drilling activity in the Permian rose by 1 this week to 306, a figure that is 14 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same this week at 48 after falling by 1 in each of the two weeks prior. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are now 1 below where they were this time last year.
Oil prices fell on Friday despite a new agreement from OPEC+ earlier in the week that promised to delay a production output rampup—originally destined to begin in October—for another two months. At 1:00 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $1.77 (-2.56%) on the day at $67.38—a nearly $7 loss week over week. The Brent benchmark was trading down $1.85 (-2.55%) on the day at $70.84—an $8 per barrel loss compared to last Friday.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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