U.S. oil and gas drilling activity is declining

The total number of active oil and gas rigs in the United States fell again this week, according to new data released Friday by Baker Hughes.

The total number of rigs fell by 1 to 585 this week compared to 632 rigs in the same period last year.

The oil rig count was flat this week after falling by 2 the previous week. Oil rigs now stand at 483, down 29 compared to this time last year. The gas rig count fell by 1 this week to 97, a loss of 18 active gas rigs from this time last year. The various platforms remained the same at 5.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production rose by 100,000 bpd in the week ended Aug. 16, according to weekly estimates released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly U.S. oil production, according to the EIA, rose 100,000 bpd, back to the previous record high of 13.4 million bpd.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells, fell in the week ended Aug. 16 from 240 to 234, adding to last week’s loss.

Drilling activity in the Permian rose by 3 this week to 306, a figure that is 14 less than the same period last year. The Eagle Ford count dropped 1 this week to 47 after dropping 2 the previous week. Rigs on the Eagle Ford are now 5 below where they were this time last year.

Oil prices rose on Friday. At 12:58 pm ET, benchmark WTI was trading up $1.79 (+2.45%) on the day at $74.80 – a loss of $2 week-over-week despite today’s gain. Benchmark Brent traded up $1.74 (+2.25%) on the day at $78.96 – a $1 loss week-over-week.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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