A day after OPEC extended the already-extended production cut deal to end-2018, oil and gas rigs in the US climbed by 6. The boost to the number of oil and gas rigs in the US is likely just a taste of what’s to come if oil prices continue to climb as a result of OPEC’s prolonging of the deal that is designed to ease the glut. And at current prices of WTI, US drillers are bound to find sufficient funds to add rigs, pressuring the prices that OPEC is attempting to hold fast.
This week, the number of active oil rigs increased by 2, with gas rigs climbing by 4.
The WTI and Brent benchmarks slipped shortly after the agreement was signed on Thursday, but rebounded on Friday, with WTI up $1.23 (+2.14%) to $58.63 and Brent up $1.36 (+2.17%) to $63.99 around 11:00am EST.
The total oil and gas rig count in the United States now stands at 929 rigs, up 332 rigs from a year ago. The number of oil rigs stand at 749 versus 477 a year ago. The number of gas rigs in the US now stands at 180, up from 119 a year ago. Related: Oil Majors Are Leading The Recovery Race
The Permian Basin added 4 rigs for the week, bringing the total count in the fastest growing shale patch to 397 compared to just 235 a year ago. Haynesville basin was also up this week, adding 3 rigs for a total of 43 actives. Rigs in the Eagle Ford basin stayed the same, with Barnett, Cana Woodford, and DJ-Niobrara each losing one rig.
Canada also added rigs this week—4 oil rigs and 3 gas rigs, for a total of 7.
Along with an increase to the number of active oil rigs, US crude oil production was up for the week ending November 24 at 9.682 million barrels per day—another new high for 2017 as new highs are achieved each week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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