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The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States fell this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, following a 2 rig dip in the prior week.
The total rig count in the US fell by 7 to 583 rigs, according to Baker Hughes, down 34 from this same time last year.
The number of oil rigs fell by 9 to 480—down by 26 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 this week to 97 for a loss of 12 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs were rose by 1 to 6 active rigs.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell slightly, rising from 13.580 million bpd to 13.458 million bpd. The figure is 173,000 bpd down from the all-time high reached during the week of December 6, 2024.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, fell during the week of April 4 to 205, compared to 209 in the week prior—still up slightly from 201 at the beginning of the year.
WTI is still trading nearly $5 below what the Dallas Fed Survey says is the breakeven for Permian players, with drilling activity in the basin sliding by another 5 rigs after falling by 3 last week, landing at 289 in the country’s most proflic basin—a figure that is 27 fewer than this same time last year. The count in the Eagle Ford fell by 1 to 47. Rigs in the Eagle Ford are 8 below where they were this time last year.
With tariffs stacked upon tariffs and OPEC+’s plan to ramp up oil production beginning in May at a rate that is significantly more than anticipated, oil prices have traded sharply down for more than a week. At 12:35 p.m., ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.61 per barrel (+0.97%) on the day at $60.54, which is more than $1 per barrel below last Friday’s price. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.60 (+0.95%) on the day at $63.93—a $1.50 per barrel decrease from last Friday.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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