US Drillers Add Oil Rigs for 7th Week in a Row
U.S. energy companies this week added oil rigs for a seventh week in a row, extending a seven-month drilling recovery as crude prices held near a 17-month high. Drillers added 12 oil rigs in the week to Dec. 16, bringing the total count to 510, the highest since January, but still below 541 rigs a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said on Friday. Since crude prices briefly recovered from 13-year lows to around $50 a barrel in May, drillers have added oil rigs in 26 of the past 29 weeks for a total of 194, the biggest recovery in rigs since a global oil glut crushed the market over two years. Almost two-thirds of the rigs added since May…
US Oil Drillers Add Rigs for 11th Week in 12
U.S. drillers this week added oil rigs for an 11th week in the past 12, according to a closely followed report on Friday, although the rate of increases has slowed as crude prices remain below the key $50 a barrel level that spurs a return to the well pad. That is, however, the longest streak of not cutting rigs since 2011 with the rig count increasing or holding steady every week so far this quarter. Drillers added two oil rigs in the week to Sept. 16, bringing the total rig count up to 416, the most since February but still below the 644 rigs seen a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said. The oil rig count plunged from a record high of 1…
US Oil Drillers Add Rigs for 6th Week in a Row
U.S. drillers this week added oil rigs for a sixth consecutive week, according to a closely followed report on Friday, despite crude prices falling to April lows below $40 a barrel this week. Some producers are still boosting spending on expectations for higher prices in the future. Drillers added seven oil rigs in the week to Aug. 5, bringing the total rig count up to 381, compared with 670 a year ago, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said. They have added a total of 51 rigs since the week to July 1, the longest streak of weekly additions since July-August 2015, when 37 rigs were added over six weeks. Energy firms continued to add most rigs in the Permian shale in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.
US Oil Rigs Cut for 13th Week in 14
U.S. energy firms this week cut oil rigs for the 13th week in the last 14, data showed on Friday, a sign drillers were still waiting for higher prices before returning to the well pad. On Friday, OPEC decided to keep production near record highs despite depressed prices, as a way to boost market share by forcing rivals to reduce output. Drillers removed 10 oil rigs in the week ended Dec. 4, bringing the total rig count down to 545, the least since June 2010, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. That decrease brings the total rig count down to about a third of the 1,575 oil rigs operating in same week a year ago. Since the end of the summer, drillers have cut 120 oil rigs. U.S. oil futures averaged $41 a barrel so far this week, down from $42 last week.
US Oil Drillers Add Rigs for First Week in 11
U.S. energy firms this week added oil rigs for the first week in 11, data showed on Friday, despite continued weak crude prices. Drillers added 2 oil rigs in the week ended Nov. 13, bringing the total rig count up to 574, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report. That total is about a third of the 1,578 oil rigs operating in same week a year ago. Over the prior 10 weeks, drillers cut 103 oil rigs. The additions this week showed that at least some drillers were willing to start drilling again even with U.S. oil prices trading in the $40s a barrel in hopes of higher prices in the future. U.S. oil futures averaged $43 a barrel so far this week, down from $46 last week.
US Weekly Oil Rig Count Decline Slows
The fall in the U.S. oil rig count slowed this week, data showed on Friday, suggesting the collapse in drilling may be coming to an end as prices recover after falling 60 percent from June to March. The oil rig count fell by 24 this week to 679 active rigs, the smallest drop since early April, after the loss of 31 and 26 rigs in the prior two weeks, oil services firm Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely-watched report. With the oil rig decline this week, the number of active rigs has fallen for a record 21 weeks in a row to the fewest since September 2010, according to Baker Hughes data going back to 1987. Since the number of oil rigs peaked at 1,609 in October, producers have cut spending, eliminated jobs and idled more than half of the country's rigs. The U.S.
