The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 4 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Thursday-a day earlier than usual due to the Good Friday holiday this week.
The total rig count fell to 751 this week-62 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022 and 324 rigs lower than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Oil rigs in the United States decreased by 2 this week, to 590. Gas rigs also slipped 2, to 158. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same.
The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 1. Rigs in the Eagle Ford stayed the same.
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 5 for week ending March 31, reaching 295. This is 19 rigs more than a month ago, and 22 more than a year ago.
Crude oil production in the United States stayed the same for the week ending March 31 at 12.2 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 400,000 bpd versus a year ago.
At 12:00 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.08 (+0.10%) on the day at $80.69, up nearly $5 per barrel from last Friday, after OPEC+ announced additional surprise production cuts that are set to begin in May.
The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.06 (+0.07%) at $85.05 per barrel on the day, but up around $5.50 per barrel from this time last Friday.
WTI was trading at $80.29 minutes after the data release, down 0.40% on the day.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More