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, with the total rig count in the US rising to 591, up 52 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs rose by 1, reaching 450 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 34 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 2 to 132, which is 14 more than this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 9.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose during the week ending September 4. US crude oil production averaged 13.947 million bpd during the reporting period, up from 13.862 million bpd last week and up 452,000 bpd from a year ago.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, fell for the fourth week in a row during the week ending September 4, to 178 crews, reaching the lowest point since May.
The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin stayed the same during the reporting period, at 268. This is 14 rigs above year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford rose by 1 to 51, which is 9 more than this same time last year.
Oil prices were down on Friday prior to the data release, with Brent now trading at $105.07 (-2.38%) per barrel, a figure that is $10 more than this time last week. WTI was also trading down on the day at $99.60 (-2.81%).
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
