The number of total active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 3 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday, interrupting a three-week decline.
The total rig count rose to 765 this week—257 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.
Oil rigs in the United States rose by 4 this week, to 605. Gas rigs fell by 1, to 158. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 2.
The rig count in the Permian Basin rose by 3 to 348 this week. Rigs in the Eagle Ford fell by 2 to 70. Oil and gas rigs in the Permian are 99 above where they were this time last year.
Primary Vision's Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished wells—a more frugal use of finances than drilling new wells—fell for the third week in a row to 280 for week ending August 19, compared to 236 a year ago.
Crude oil production in the United States also fell in the week ending August 19. U.S. crude oil production fell by 100,000 bpd to an average 12 million bpd, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. This is up from 11.7 million bpd at the start of the year.
At 12:11 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trending down on the day as recession-related demand fears trumps falling inventories. WTI was trading at $92.27 on the day—down $0.25 per barrel (-0.27%) on the day, but up roughly $1.20 per barrel on the week. The Brent benchmark was trading up at $99.51 per barrel, up $0.17 (+0.17%) on the day, and up nearly $3 per barrel on the week.
At 1:06 pm ET, WTI was trading at $92.38 while Brent was trading at $99.64 per barrel.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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