The number of total active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 7 this week, as WTI trades at more than $113 per barrel.
The total rig count increased to 670 this week—253 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021.
Oil rigs in the United States rose by 7 rigs to 531, while gas rigs stayed the same at 137. Miscellaneous rigs also stayed the same.
While drilling activity has picked up in the United States over the last few months, U.S. production—a corollary to drilling rigs but with months of lag—has not. While Americans bemoan the high price of gasoline at the pump, U.S. weekly production of crude oil stayed the same for the seventh week in a row at 11.6 million bpd, according to the latest Energy Information Administration for the week ending March 18.
The rig count in the Permian Basin was rose by 3 this week to 319.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, which tracks the number of completion crews finishing off previously drilled wells, shows that completion crews fell further to 266 from 272 in the week ending March 18.
At 12:13 p.m. EST, oil prices were trending up on the day after unconfirmed reports of a Houthi rebel attack on an Aramco oil facility in Jeddah.
At that time, WTI was trading at $113.40 per barrel—up 0.94% on the day and up roughly $10 per barrel on the week. The Brent benchmark traded at $119.90 per barrel at that time, up 0.75% on the day and up roughly $13 per barrel on the week.
At 1:12 p.m. ET, WTI crude had risen by $1.07 to $113.40, while Brent crude had risen by $1.25 to $120.30.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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