U.S. Oil Rig Count Drops Despite Rising Crude Prices

The number of total active drilling rigs in the United States was unchanged this week, even as WTI trades over $104 per barrel.

The total rig count stayed at 663 this week—252 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.

Oil rigs fell by 3 rigs to 524, while gas rigs were up by 2 to 137. Miscellaneous rigs rose 1 to 2.

While drilling activity has picked up in the United States over the last few months, U.S. production—a corollary to drilling rigs but with months of lag—has not. U.S. weekly production of crude oil stayed the same for the sixth week in a row at 11.6 million bpd, according to the latest Energy Information Administration for the week ending March 11.

The rig count in the Permian Basin was unchanged this week at 316.

Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, which tracks the number of completion crews finishing off previously drilled wells, shows that completion crews fell to 272 from 280 in week ending March 11.

At 11:00 a.m. EST, oil prices were trending up on the day on renewed fears that there will be a global supply crunch brought on in part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting sanctions.

At that time, WTI was trading at $103.80 per barrel—up 0.84% on the day but down $6 per barrel on the week. The Brent benchmark traded at $106.8 per barrel at that time, up 0.18% on the day but down nearly $6 per barrel on the week.  

At 1:10 p.m. ET, WTI crude had risen by $1.28 to $104.30, while Brent crude had risen $0.47 to $107.10.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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