Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have added oil and gas rigs to their fleet for the third consecutive week.
Baker Hughes, a leading energy services company, said that U.S. firms added oil and gas rigs this week for the third consecutive week for the first since February.
In the week ending September 19, the oil and gas rig counts, a good indicator of future production, increased by three, to 542. This is its highest level since July.
Baker Hughes reported that despite this week's increase in rigs the total number was still 46 rigs or 8% lower than this time last year.
Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs increased by two this week to 418, the highest level since July. Gas rigs remained at 118.
Denver-Julesburg Airport (DJ-aéroport)
Drillers added two drilling rigs in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska this week. The count is now 11, the most since April 2024.
Colorado drillers, meanwhile added two rigs to the total this week. This is the highest number since August 2024.
Oil and gas rig counts are expected to decline by 5% and 20% respectively in 2024, as the lower U.S. gas and oil prices in recent years have prompted energy companies to concentrate more on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt than increasing production.
TD Cowen, a U.S.-based financial services company, said that the independent exploration and production companies (E&Ps) tracked by it planned to reduce capital expenditures in 2025 by around 4% from 2024 levels.
This compares to roughly flat spending year-over-year in 2024 and increases of 27%, 40%, and 4%, respectively, in 2023. Analysts predicted that U.S. crude spot prices would fall for the third consecutive year in 2025. However, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's (EIA), crude production would increase from a record 13,2 million barrels a day (bpd).
The EIA predicted a 61% rise in the price of spot gas
(source: Reuters)
