U.S. Rig Count Rises Despite Oil Price Uncertainty

The number of oil and gas rigs in the United States is up 5 this week, according to Baker Hughes, with the total rig count at 484, up 231 from the same time last year.

The U.S. oil rig count rose by 2 this week to 380. The number of gas rigs increased by 3 and now sits at 104. The number of miscellaneous rigs stayed the same.

U.S. drillers continue to show remarkable restraint in this higher priced environment, even as more acreage becomes profitable to develop. The EIA's estimate for oil production in the United States for the week ending July 9 was 100,000 bpd higher than the previous week at an average of 11.4 million barrels per day. But production is still well below the 13.1 million bpd peak seen in February 2020.

The trend, however small, though, is still upward, with production rising from 11 million bpd at the start of the year to 11.4 million bpd now.

Canada's overall rig count increased this week as well, by 13. Oil and gas rigs in Canada now sit at 150 active rigs, up 118 on the year. 

The rig count in the Permian basin increased by 1 this week. At 238 rigs, the Permian's total rig count is now 114 rigs above what it was this time last year.

The Frac Spread Count provided by Primary Vision shows that fracking crews rose by 4 for the week ending July 9, up to 238. The frac spread count estimates the number of completion crews finishing off previously drilled wells. This frac count is up by more than 105 so far this year.

At 1:02 p.m. EDT, WTI was trading at $71.97 barrel, while the Brent benchmark was trading at $73.70 per barrel-with both benchmarks down sharply on the week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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