Oil Rig Count Dips As WTI Falls To $75

The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 1 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday.

The total rig count fell to 760 this week—115 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022 and 315 rigs lower than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Oil rigs in the United States decreased by 2 this week, to 607 after increasing by 10 in the week prior. Gas rigs increased by 1, to 151. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 2.

The rig count in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford stayed the same.

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 second week in a row during the week ending February 10. The frac spread count is now 266, down 4 from the previous week. This is 12 more crews than a month ago and 9 fewer than a year ago.

Crude oil production in the United States stayed the same at 12.3 million bpd in the week ending February 10, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 700,000 bpd versus a year ago.

At 12:54 p.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading down $2.43 on the day (-3.10%) at $76.06, down mor than $3.50 per barrel from this time last week.

The Brent benchmark was trading down $2.38 (-2.80%) at $82.76 per barrel on the day, also down roughly $3.50 per barrel compared to last Friday. 

WTI was trading at $75.74 minutes after the data release, down 3.50% on the day.

source:https://oilprice.com/