Baker Hughes reports that US drillers have added oil and gas rigs to their fleets for the second week running.

Baker Hughes, a renowned energy services firm, said that U.S. firms added oil and natural gas rigs this week for the second week in a row. This is the first addition since mid-March.

In the week leading up to May 1, the oil and gas rig counts, an early indicator for future production, increased by three, to 547, its highest level since early April.

Baker Hughes reported that despite this week's increase in rigs the total count is still 37 rigs or?6% lower than this time last year.

Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs increased by one this week to 408; their highest level since mid-April. Gas rigs also rose, by one, to 130. Their highest level?since early April. Other miscellaneous drilling rigs grew by one, to nine.

As a result of lower?U.S. Oil prices caused energy firms to focus on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt instead of increasing production.

Financial services company TD Cowen reported that the exploration and production firms it tracks plan to spend roughly the same amount on capital expenditures for 2026 as they did in 2025.

This compares to a decrease of 4%?in 2025 and an increase of 27%, 40%, and 4%, respectively, in 2023 and 2022.

Although?U.S. West Texas Intermediate spot oil prices were predicted to increase in '2026 because of'supply disruptions due to the Iran War. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast that crude production would fall from a record 13.6 million barrels a day in 2025 down to 13.5 million bpd by 2026. The spot crude price declined in 2023 and 2024.

The EIA projected that gas production would increase from a record of 107.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2025 to an estimated 109.6 billion cubic foot per day in 2026. Spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub in Louisiana are forecast to rise by about 4% by 2026. (Reporting and editing by Nia William; Scott DiSavino)

(source: Reuters)