The number of active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 13 this week, bringing the total rig count at 601, as oil prices keep to bull territory even as the fresh wave of Covid-19 cases brought by the new variant threatens to diminish demand.
Last week's count compared with an unchanged rig count of 588 during the previous week.
Baker Hughes reported the total active rig figure was 228 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.
Oil-directed rigs were up by 11 to 492, while gas-directed rigs were up by 2 to 109.
Oil production in the U.S. last week—the last week of 2021—fell 100,000 bpd back to 11.7 million bpd, according to the Energy Information Administration. This is up from 11 million bpd at the beginning of 2021. Despite last week's setback, U.S. production remains on an upward trend.
The rig count in the Permian Basin increased by 1 this week. The number of rigs in the nation's second most prolific basin, the Eagle Ford, saw a six-rig gain. The Permian's total rig count is now 293, with 50 total in the Eagle Ford.
Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, which tracks the number of completion crews finishing off previously drilled wells, shows that completion crews rose by 10 this week to 244 for week ending January 7, after five weeks of losses. The frac spread is now down 40 over the last five weeks.
At 10:40 a.m. EDT, oil prices were trending up on the day. WTI was trading at $82.89—up 0.94% on the day and roughly $3.50 on the week. The Brent benchmark traded at $85.28, up 0.96% on the day, and also up roughly $3.50 on the week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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