U.S. Oil Rigs Continue To Fall

The total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 2 this week after falling by 7 last week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published Friday, with the number of active oil rigs plunging to their lowest level since January 28 of last year.

The total rig count fell to 616 this week. So far this year, Baker Hughes has estimated a loss of 163 active drilling rigs. This week's count is 459 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019 prior to the pandemic.

The number of oil rigs fell by 2 to 494, down by 127 so far in 2023, and the lowest level since January 2022. The number of gas rigs stayed the same this week at 118, a loss of 38 active gas rigs from the start of the year. Miscellaneous rigs also stayed the same.

The rig count in the Permian Basin stayed the same this week, and is now 40 rigs below this same time last year. The rig count in the Eagle stayed the same and is 20 fewer than this time last year.

Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished, fell in the week ending November 3, to 270, down from 275 in the week prior. The frac spread count is 12 more than where it started the year.

At 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.88 (+1.16%) on the day at $76.62. While trading up for the day, WTI is down more than $5 per barrel from this time last week. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.90 (+1.12%) at $80.91, also down more than $5 per barrel from a week ago.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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