Oil Rig Counts Falls as WTI Holds Below $80

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday.

The total rig count fell by 2 to 603 this week, compared to 731 rigs this same time last year.

The number of oil rigs fell by 3 this week, after falling by 7 in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 496--down by 90 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week to 103, a loss of 38 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 4.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production stayed the same for the eighth week in a row at an average of 13.1 million bpd for the week ending May 3—down 200,000 bpd from the all-time high of 13.3 million bpd.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells that are unfinished, slipped in the week ending May 3, to 252. Completions fell by 5 for the week.

The Permian saw a 2-rig decrease after falling by 1 in the week prior. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same this week after falling by 3 in the week prior.

Oil prices were trading down on Friday with both benchmarks trading about $0.88 down per barrel. At 1:08 p.m. ET, after data release, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.88 (-1.11%) on the day at $7838. This is essentially flat on the week.

The Brent benchmark was trading down $0.88 (-1.05%) at $83.00, a roughly $0.26 per barrel decrease from a week ago.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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