U.S. Shale Patch Sees Rig Count Decline By 8 This Week

The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 8 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published Friday, falling by 57 from in the last six weeks.

The total rig count fell to 687 this week-53 rigs below this time last year. The current count is 388 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.

The number of oil rigs declined by 4 this week to 552. Gas rigs slipped 5, reaching 130. Gas rigs are now 24 below where they were a year ago, while oil rigs are 32 below. Miscellaneous rigs rose by 1.

The rig count in the Permian Basin fell by 4-and are now 3 rigs below this same time last year. The rig count in the Eagle Ford rose by 2, but was down 9 rigs from this time last year.

Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells (which is cheaper than drilling new wells), rose by 10 in the week ending June 9, to 266. The number of fracking crews for the week measured rose for the first time after five consecutive weekly declines. The frac spread count is 17 less than this time last year.

Despite the trend of decreasing drilling activity, crude oil production levels in the United States were flat in the week ending June 9, at 12.4 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates-the highest level since April 2020. U.S. production levels are now up 500,000 bpd versus a year ago.

At 1:30: p.m. ET on Friday, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.65 (+0.92%) on the day at $71.27.

The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.53 (+0.70%) at $76.20 per barrel on the day.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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