U.S. oil and gas drillers ease as prices collapse

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 582 this week compared to 632 rigs in the same period last year.

The oil rig count was flat this week after being flat for the past two weeks. Oil rigs now stand at 483, down 30 from this time last year. The gas rig count fell by 1 this week to 94, a loss of 19 active gas rigs from this time last year. The various platforms remained the same at 5.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil production was flat in the week ended Aug. 30, according to weekly estimates released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly US oil production, according to the EIA, is back at the previous record high of 13.3 million bpd.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews that have completed uncompleted wells, fell again in the week ended Aug. 30, from 229 to 222, adding to the past three weeks of losses. Finishing crews are now at their lowest level in three years.

Drilling activity in the Permian increased by 1 this week to 306, a figure that is 14 less than the same period last year. The number in the Eagle Ford was flat this week at 48 after dropping 1 in each of the previous two weeks. Installations on the Eagle Ford are now 1 below where they were this time last year.

Oil prices fell on Friday, despite a new deal from OPEC+ earlier in the week that promised to delay a production hike – initially set to start in October – by another two months. At 1:00 PM ET, benchmark WTI was trading down $1.77 (-2.56%) on the day at $67.38 – a loss of nearly $7 week-over-week. Benchmark Brent traded down $1.85 (-2.55%) on the day at $70.84, a loss of $8 a barrel compared to last Friday.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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