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The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States held steady this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, following a 1-rig decrease in the week prior.
The total rig count in the US stayed at 592 rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 37 from this same time last year amid the pervasive Drill Baby Drill sentiment of the Trump Administration, tariff wars, and sanctions.
The number of oil rigs rose by 1 to 487—down by 23 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1 again this week to 100 for a loss of 16 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs (which could include exploratory drilling not targeting oil or gas, geothermal drilling, helium exploration, or even carbon sequestration wells) were unchanged at 5.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose for the 6th week in a row, and is now at 13.575 million bpd. The figure is just 56,000 bpd shy of the all-time high reached during the week of December 6, 2024.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, slipped during the week of March 7 to 210, compared to 214 in the week prior, and up from 201 at the beginning of the year.
There was a 3-rig slide in drilling activity in the Permian Basin, falling to 301 in the most proflic basin—a figure that is 15 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford saw an decrease of 1 active drilling rig, coming in at 48. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are 7 below where they were this time last year.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday before the data release. At 12:29 p.m., ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.48 per barrel (+0.72%) on the day at $67.03, just $0.14 per barrel off of last Friday’s price. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.49 (+0.70%) on the day at $70.37—essentially unchanged from this time last week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
The post U.S. Rig Count Stalls as Oil Prices Keep Drillers in Check appeared first on Energy News Beat.
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