Oil rig count rises as WTI hits $77

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

The total number of rigs increased by 2 to 588 this week compared to 654 rigs in the same period last year.

The oil rig count rose by 3 this week after holding steady the previous week. Oil rigs now stand at 485, down 40 from this time last year. The gas rig count fell by 1 this week to 97, a loss of 26 active gas rigs from this time last year. The various platforms remained the same at 6.

Meanwhile, US crude oil production rose in the week ended August 2, according to weekly data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Current weekly US oil production, according to the EIA, hit a new all-time high of 13.4 million bpd.

Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells, rose in the week ending Aug. 2 from 237 to 243, on top of last week’s gain of 9 crews.

Drilling activity in the Permian increased by 1 this week to 304, a figure that is 23 less than the same period last year. The number in the Eagle Ford was flat this week at 50 after being flat the previous week. Eagle Ford rigs are now 3 below where they were this time last year.

The price of oil continued to rise on Friday. At 1:00 PM ET, benchmark WTI was trading up $0.86 (+1.13%) on the day at $77.05 – a $4 week-over-week gain. Benchmark Brent traded up $0.63 (+0.80%) on the day at $79.79.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

More top reads from Oilprice.com