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Julianne Geiger

Julianne Geiger

Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group.

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99 Oil Rigs Gone And Counting: Rig Count Falls Again

Wolfcamp rig

The US oil and gas rig count continued to fall this week, according to Baker Hughes, falling another 3 rigs for the week, according to Baker Hughes.

For oil rigs, this week marks the twelfth decrease out of the last fourteen weeks, falling 99 rigs in that timeframe.

The total oil and gas rig count now stands at 803, or 276 down from this time last year.

The total number of active oil rigs in the United States decreased by 3 according to the report, reaching 671. The number of active gas rigs stayed at 129 for the second week.  

The last time oil rigs were this low was in March of 2017.

By state, Texas has seen a drop of 126 year on year, while Oklahoma sunk by 92 to hit 52 rigs.

Even though the number of oil rigs have declined by 206 this year alone, production has grown from 11.7 million bpd at the beginning of the year to an all-time high of 12.8 million bpd for the second week in a row.

Oil prices were down on Friday ahead of the data, with WTI at 11:51am at $57.76 per barrel (-$0.82), which is absolutely flat from last week. Brent was trading down at $63.29 (-$0.68), which is also nearly flat week over week.

Canada’s overall rig count increased this week, with oil and gas rigs gaining 3, after last week’s 6-rig decrease. Oil and gas rigs in Canada now stand at 137, down 67 year on year. 

At 7 minutes past the hour, WTI was trading at $57.85 and Brent was trading at $63.35.

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  • Mamdouh Salameh on November 22 2019 said:
    The continued fall in US oil rig count as reported on weekly basis by Baker Hughes says volumes about the state of the US shale oil production. Rig counts don’t lie. They tell the story as they see it on the ground.

    And yet, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting that US oil production of which shale oil production accounts for almost 90% has reached 12.8 million barrels a day (mbd).

    How could the EIA reconcile its claim with a decline of 206 oil rigs this year alone with Texas the home of the Permian which accounts for 60%-70% of total US shale oil production having the fastest rig drop.

    If a loss of 206 oil rigs this year so far and counting has had no effect on the growth of shale oil production, then why don’t shale drillers drop another 200 rigs so production could grow by 1 mbd to 13.6 mbd.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Visiting Professor of Energy Economics at ESCP Europe Business School, London
  • Old-Ruffneck Smith on November 22 2019 said:
    Mandouh Salameh: Rig count drops but DUC "Drilled Uncompleted" rising rapidly bringing on much more oil. There are approximately 7300 of these so there-in lies the reasoning. Expect more climbing barrels in the months ahead as Service Contractors bring more of these online.
  • Carlos Evie on November 22 2019 said:
    You will see the effects of the lower rig count, but for now , due to this new technology it is very difficult to predict with absolute certainty what total production is , which is what you are looking for.

    Unfortunately , even back in the 1980's and 1990's, the rig count was much lower, seeing rig count at 550 for the state of TX and New Mexico. I would suggest you allow another year of technology to develop before you criticize the EIA as they have never had to predict this current situation with the technology available at this time. Let's give EIA a break as this is brand new technology and no one else has come forward with a new model to better understand the situation
  • Kris Poole on November 22 2019 said:
    Americans are always talking about other countries, that you can never really trust any news, business news in particular coming from China or Russia. However these number games and creative accounting about the American oil production is just a laughing stock. Those numbers are total BS$$$. They are as believable as all the news coming from Russian "Pravda" or Sputnik. Who is really trying to drive this false oil production numbers agenda? Does anybody in trading business believes this s$$t anymore? I stopped trusting these numbers sometime ago. It does not take a genius to see the pattern of lies, more lies, and deceit. The purpose is to manipulate the price of oil. No more, no less.
    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh, you are right on, about dropping another 200 rigs, and the American oil production should rise to the moon, hockey stick - exponential rise:))) This is so ridiculous.
  • Cole Halliburton on November 22 2019 said:
    Thank you Dr. Salameh. Could not have said it better myself. Either EIA is misinterpreting the data or there is a significant delay between drop in rig count and the decline in production which surely must follow.

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