Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States increased by 6 this week, after an increase of 9 last week. The total number of active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. is now at 417, which is 311 fewer than this time last year.
The oil rig count has increased by nearly 30 rigs over the last two months.
The oil rig count increased by 6 this week to 324, and the number of gas rigs stayed the same at 92. The number of miscellaneous rigs also remained unchanged at 1.
The EIA’s estimate for oil production in the United States for the week ending March 19 rose by 100,000 bpd this week to 11 million barrels, where it has sat roughly since October, except for the temporary dropoff during a two-week span due to the Texas Freeze.
Canada’s overall rig count decreased this week by 11. Oil and gas rigs in Canada now sit at 81 active rigs, up 27 year on year.
The Permian basin saw an increase this week in the number of rigs. The Permian’s total rig count rose by 5, bringing the total active rigs in the Permian to 221, or 161 below this time last year.
This week's Frac Spread County by Primary Vision increased from 195 to 200, a level not seen since last April.
The WTI and Brent crude oil benchmarks are still experiencing a high amount of volatility. Renewed lockdowns in Europe on rising coronavirus case counts have sparked fears of a delayed increase to oil demand, while a vessel stuck in the Suez Canal threatened the supply side when it created a traffic jam for vessels, including for oil tankers. Add to that the ever-watched OPEC+, which is set to meet again on April 1 to dish out a new—or old, as the case may be—set of production requirements for its members.
Around noon, WTI was trading up $2.60 per barrel on the day at $61.16 as the Suez calamity trumped the demand-side fears.
The Brent benchmark was trading up $2.56 per barrel on the day, at $64.51 per barrel.
After Baker Hughes’ data release, at 1:05 p.m. EDT, WTI was trading up 4.56% on the day at $61.23—essentially flat on the week. Brent was trading up 4.47% on the day, at $64.72, up roughly $0.30 on the week.
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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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