The total number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell again this week, by 3, falling by a total of 2 over the last four weeks, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Thursday.
The total rig count fell to 620 this week. Since this time last year, Baker Hughes has estimated a loss of 157 active drilling rigs. This week’s count is 454 fewer rigs than the rig count at the beginning of 2019, before the pandemic.
The number of oil rigs fell by 3 to 498. Oil rigs are now down by 124 compared to this time last year. The number of gas rigs rose this week to 120, a loss of 35 active gas rigs from this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs fell by 1.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing unfinished, rose by 2 in the week to December 15 to 265. The frac spread count is 7 more than where it started the year.
Oil prices were trading down on Friday. At 3:27 p.m. ET on Thursday, the WTI benchmark was trading down $0.45 (-0.61%) on the day at $73.77. This is an increase of roughly $2 per barrel from this time last week. The Brent benchmark was trading down $0.45 (-0.56%) at $79.25, up about $2.50 per barrel from a week ago.
