Baker Hughes says US energy companies have added rigs six times in the last seven weeks.
Baker Hughes, a leading energy services company, said that U.S. firms added rigs this week for the sixth time in 7 weeks.
The number of oil and gas drilling rigs, which is an early indicator of future production, increased by one in the week ending July 31.
Baker Hughes stated that the increase of 48 rigs or 9% over this time last week is a result of this week's increases.
Baker Hughes reported that oil?rigs increased by one this week to 451 - their highest level since mid-July. Gas rigs were unchanged at 127, and miscellaneous other rigs?remained at 10.
The Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas saw a rig count increase of two, to 49. This is the highest since March 2025.
The Utica, which includes Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, saw its rig count drop by one, to 11, the lowest level since May 2025. Together with the Marcellus formation, the Utica is part of the Appalachia Formation, which is the largest U.S. shale gas producing basin.
The number of rigs in Ohio has fallen from 10 to one, the lowest since May 2025.
Oil and gas rig counts will decline by 7%, 5%, and 20% between 2025 and 2023, as energy firms focus on increasing shareholder returns, paying off debt, and reducing output, rather than increasing production.
The U.S. energy information administration (EIA), however, has projected that crude production will increase from 13.6 million barrels a day (bpd), a record, in 2025, to 13.8 millions bpd, despite the fact that spot U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude prices are expected to rise due to disruptions in supply from the Iran war in 2026.
EIA predicted that the production of natural gas will increase from a record-breaking 107.7 billion cubic feet per day in 2025, to 111.3 billion cubic feet per days in 2026. This is due to the demand for LNG for export and electricity to power data centers. Reporting by Scott DiSavino, Editing by Chizu Gregorio and David Gregorio
(source: Reuters)
