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Oil Prices Set to Post a Strong Quarterly Gain

U.S. Rig Count Climbs As Oil Prices Crash

Drilling activity in the United States continues to pick up, according to Baker Hughes, with a 6-rig rise to the number of active drilling rigs this week, according to Baker Hughes.

The total rig count is now at 569-a figure that is 249 up from this time last year. Active rigs are still hundreds less than the 790 active rigs that were drilling in the pre-covid world.

The U.S. oil rig count rose this week to 467-a 6-rig increase, and a 226 rig increase since this time last year.

The number of gas rigs, as well as the miscellaneous rigs, stayed the same, with gas-directed rigs at 102.

The EIA's estimate for oil production in the United States for the week ending November 19 rose 100,000 bpd to 11.5 million bpd.

Oil production is still well below the 13.1 million bpd record set last year before the pandemic took hold in the United States.

Canada's overall rig count increased by 4. Active oil and gas rigs in Canada are now at 171, up 69 on the year. 

The rig count in the Permian Basin increased by 2 this week, with 119 rigs added since last year. The number of rigs in the nation's second most prolific basin, the Eagle Ford, saw no change to the number of active rigs. The Permian's total rig count is now 280, with 42 total in the Eagle Ford.

Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, which tracks the number of completion crews finishing off previously drilled wells, shows that completion crews rose by 1 this week to 270 for the week ending November 19. The frac count is up by more than 130 since the start of the year.

At 12:20 p.m. EDT, oil prices were trending down sharply on the day on a resurgence of coronavirus fears about a new variant. WTI traded at $69.15-down 11.79% on the day and down more than $7 per barrel on the week. The Brent benchmark traded at $73.81 down 10.23% on the day and more than $5 per barrel on the week. 

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Julianne Geiger

Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More