Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have added oil and gas rigs to their fleet for the first time in 3 weeks.
Baker Hughes, a closely watched energy services company, said in its report on Friday that U.S. firms?added oil & natural gas rigs this week for the?first time in three-weeks.
The number of oil and gas rigs, a good indicator of future production, increased by one in the week ending April 24. This is its highest level since mid-April.
Baker Hughes reported that despite the increase in rigs the total number of rigs was still 43 or 7% lower than this time last year.
Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs dropped by three this week to 407, the lowest since February. Gas rigs, however, rose by four to reach 129, which is their highest level since early April. Other miscellaneous drilling rigs remained at eight.
Oil and gas rig counts declined by approximately 7% in 2025, 5% a year later in 2024 and 20% in the year 2023, as lower U.S. oil prices led energy firms to focus on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt, rather than increasing production.
Financial services company TD Cowen reported that the companies it tracks in exploration and production (E&P), planned to spend 1% less in capital expenditures by 2026 than they did in 2025.
This compares to a decrease of?4% by 2025, a roughly flat level of spending year-over-year in 2024 and increases of 27%, 40%, and 4%, respectively, in 2023 and 2022.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that despite the fact that U.S. West Texas Intermediate spot crude prices would 'rise in 2026 for the first time since 2004 due to the Iran War, U.S. crude output will drop from a record of 13.6 million barrels per day (bpd), in 2025, to 13.5 millions bpd by 2026.
The EIA predicted that gas output would rise from a record of 107.7 billion cu?feet (bcfd), in 2025, to 109.6 in 2026. Spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub in Louisiana are forecast to increase by about 4%. (Reporting and editing by Chris Reese, David Gregorio and Scott DiSavino)
(source: Reuters)
