U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Activity Plummets

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

The total rig count fell by 7 to 581 this week, compared to 674 rigs this same time last year.

The number of oil rigs fell by 6 this week, after falling by 3 in the week prior. Oil rigs now stand at 479—down by 66 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 1 this week to 97, a loss of 27 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous stayed the same at 5.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production stayed at 13.2 million bpd for for the third week in a row for the week ending June 21. Current weekly production in the United States, according to the EIA, is now down just 100,000 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, fell in the week ending June 21, from 250 to 246.

Drilling activity in the Permian slipped by 3 this week to 305. The count in the Eagle Ford also fell by 3 this week, sinking to 47 after falling by a single rig in the week prior.

Oil prices were relatively flat on Friday. At 12:24 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.06 (-0.07%) on the day at $81.68—about $1 per barrel above last Friday’s price.

The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.09 (+0.10%) on the day at $86.48, a roughly $1.40 per barrel climb from a week-ago levels.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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