The number of total active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 9 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday.
The total rig count rose to 767 this week—279 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.
Oil rigs in the United States rose by 6 this week to 605. Gas rigs rose by 2, to 157. Miscellaneous rigs rose by 1 to 5.
The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 2 to 351 this week. Rigs in the Eagle Ford increased by 2 to 72. Oil and gas rigs in the Permian are 108 above where they were this time last year.
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 to 290 for week ending July 22, compared to 243 a year ago.
Crude oil production in the United States rose 200,000 bpd to 12.1 million bpd in the week ending July 22, according to the latest EIA data.
9:23 a.m. ET, oil prices were trending up on the day and week as the market eyes a tight supply/demand future even as we head into a technical recession, which some fear could dent demand. WTI was trading at $99.86—up $3.44 per barrel (+3.57%) on the day, and $3 per barrel on the week. The Brent benchmark traded at $110.10 per barrel, up $3.00 (+2.80%) on the day, and up more than $5 on the week.
At 1:05 pm ET, WTI was trading at $99.57 while Brent was trading at $110.00 per barrel—both up on the day.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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The truth of the matter is that US shale production is a spent force. The sweet and lucrative spots in the shale plays have already been exhausted forcing drillers to move to poorer and costlier spots thus leading to rising costs of production and declining production.
Yet, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) claimed two days ago that US oil production averaged 12.1 million barrels a day (mbd) during the week to July 22.
This claim can only be taken not with a pinch of salt but with tons of salt.
My estimate of US production is somewhere between 9.5 mbd and 10.0 mbd.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert