The total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 2 this week after climbing by 10 over the course of the last four weeks, according to new data that Baker Hughes published Friday.
The total rig count fell to 624 this week. Since this time last year, Baker Hughes has estimated a loss of 160 active drilling rigs. This week’s count is 451 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, before the pandemic.
The number of oil rigs fell by 2 to 501. Oil rigs are now down by 119 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs stayed the same this week at 119, a loss of 35 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs fell by 1.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished, rose by 2 in the week to December 8 to 278. The frac spread count is 20 more than where it started the year.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday. At 9:34 a.m. ET on Friday, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.25 (+0.35%) on the day at $71.83. This is an increase of roughly $1 per barrel from this time last week. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.27 (+0.35%) at $76.88, also up about $1 per barrel from a week ago.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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