Baker Hughes reports that US oil and gas drillers have cut back on rigs in the US for the first time in six-weeks.

Baker Hughes, an energy services company, said that the U.S. cut back on the number of natural gas and oil rigs for the first time since six weeks.

The number of oil and gas drilling rigs, a good indicator of future production, dropped by one in the week ending February 27. This is the lowest level since late January.

Baker Hughes reported that the total number of rigs is down 43 or 7% from this time last week.

Baker Hughes reported that?oil?rigs dropped by two this week to 407, their lowest level since December. Gas?rigs increased by one, to 134, the highest level since July 2023.

Oil and gas rig counts declined by about 7% between 2025 and 2024 and by 20% between 2023 and 2023 as lower U.S. crude oil prices prompted energy companies to focus on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt instead of increasing output.

TD Cowen, a financial services company, said that 17 of 21 exploration and production firms it tracks planned to spend 1% less on capital expenditures by 2026 compared to 2025.

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

The?U.S. The?U.S.

EIA predicted that gas production would increase?from a new record of 107.6 billion cu?feet a day (bcfd), to 110.0 bcfd by 2026. Spot prices at the Henry Hub benchmark, in Louisiana, are expected to rise 22% in the same year.

(source: Reuters)