U.S. Oil Drilling Activity Cools Off In The Permian

The total number of total active drilling rigs in the United States fell by 3 this week, according to new data from Baker Hughes published on Friday, after falling by 4 last week.

The total rig count fell to 746 this week—83 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2022 and 329 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 590 after decreasing by 8 in the week prior. Gas rigs fell by 1 to 153. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same.

The rig count in the Permian Basin fell by 6—the biggest single-rig drop since September. Rigs in the Eagle Ford rose by 1.

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—rose during the week ending March 3. The frac spread count is now 276. This is 10 more than a month ago, and 4 fewer than a year ago.

Crude oil production in the United States slipped to 12.2 million bpd for the week ending March 3, according to the latest weekly EIA estimates. U.S. production levels are up 600,000 bpd versus a year ago.

At 11:13 a.m. ET, the WTI benchmark was trading up $0.38 on the day (+0.50%) at $76.10, down more than $3 from this time last week.  

The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.48 (+0.59%) at $82.07 per barrel on the day, also down more than $3 per barrel from this time last Friday.

WTI was trading at $76.83 minutes after the data release, up 1.47% on the day.

Source: https://oilprice.com/