Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have added oil and gas rigs to their fleet for the first time in four-weeks.

Energy services firm Baker Hughes reported on Friday that U.S. energy firms added oil and gas rigs this week for the first time since four weeks.

The number of oil and gas rigs, a good indicator of future production, increased by one in the week ending March 6 to 551

Baker Hughes reported that despite this week's increase in rigs the total count is still 41 rigs or 7% lower than this time last year.

Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs increased by four this week to 411, the highest since early February. Gas rigs, on the other hand, fell by two, to 132, which is their lowest level since early February.

As U.S. crude oil prices fell, energy firms focused more on boosting shareholder returns, paying down debt, and reducing their debt than increasing production.

TD Cowen, a financial services company, said that 18 of 21 companies it tracks in exploration and production planned to spend 1% less on capital expenditures by 2026 compared to 2025.

This compares to a decrease of around 4% by 2025, a roughly flat level of spending year-on-year?in 2024 and increases of 27%, 40%, and 4%, respectively, in 2023 and 2022.

The?U.S. is expecting spot crude prices to?fall in 2026 for the fourth consecutive year. Energy Information Administration (EIA), a government agency,?predicted that crude production would remain at 13,6 million barrels per daily (bpd) by 2026. This is the same as 2025's previous record. This projection was made before U.S. airstrikes on Iran and Israeli air strikes. Since then, oil has risen in price since 2023.

On the gas side, EIA predicted that output would rise from a 107.6 billion cubic feet per day record in?2025 up to 110.0 bcfd by 2026. Spot prices at the Henry Hub benchmark price in Louisiana are forecast to increase by 22%. (Reporting and editing by Mark Porter, David Gregorio and Scott DiSavino)

(source: Reuters)