Another Disappointing Week For U.S. Oil Rigs

The number of total active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 1 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday.

The total rig count rose to 765 this week—237 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.

Oil rigs in the United States rose by 2 this week, to 604. Gas rigs slipped 1, to 159. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 2.

The rig count in the Permian Basin stayed the same at 344 this week. Rigs in the Eagle Ford also stayed the same, at 72. Oil and gas rigs in the Permian are 81 above where they were this time last year. While up year over year, active drilling in the Permian has remained near the current level since mid-May.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells—a more frugal use of finances than drilling new wells—rose by 1 to 288 for the week ending September 23, compared to 287 a month ago and 257 a year ago.

Crude oil production in the United States fell to 12.0 million bpd for the week ending September 23, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 300,000 bpd so far this year and up 1.4 million bpd versus a year ago.

At 12:27 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.55 per barrel (-0.68%) on the day at $80.68 per barrel—essentially flat on the week.

The Brent benchmark was trading down at $88.20 per barrel, down $0.28 (-0.33%) on the day, and but up .20 per barrel compared to this time last Friday. 

WTI was trading at $80.05 minutes after the data release.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: