U.S. Oil Drilling Activity Retreats For Second Week In A Row

The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 7 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday.

The total rig count fell to 753 this week—103 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022 and 322 rigs lower than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Oil rigs in the United States decreased by 7 this week, to 600 after decreasing by 2 in the week prior. Gas rigs stayed the same at 151. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 2.

The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 1, and 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 during the week ending February 17. The frac spread count is now 272, up 6 from the previous week. This is 14 more crews than a month ago and 11 fewer than a year ago.

Crude oil production in the United States stayed the same at 12.3 million bpd for the third week in a row for the week ending February 17, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 700,000 bpd versus a year ago.

At 12:42 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.74 on the day (+0.98%) at $76.13, essentially flat compared to this same time last week.

The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.69 (+0.84%) at $82.90 per barrel on the day, also flat compared to this time last Friday. 

WTI was trading at $76.15 minutes after the data release, up 1.01% on the day.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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