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 7 to 622 this week, compared to 746 rigs this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs fell by 2 this week after rising by 3 in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 504--down by 86 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell again this week by 4 to 115, a loss of 38 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs fell by 1 to a total of 3.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production fell to an average of 13.2 million bpd in the week ending March 1, easing off 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, rose again in the week ending March 1. Completions rose by 2 to 272 for the week to the highest point yet this year.
The Permian saw a 2-rig decrease after increasing by 1 the week before. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same again this week after seeing no movement in the two weeks prior.
Oil prices were trading down on Friday morning. At 12:16 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.82 (-1.04%) on the day at $78.11, down roughly $2 per barrel week over week.
The Brent benchmark was trading down $0.76 (-0.92%) at $82.20, down roughly $1.50 per barrel from a week ago.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More
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