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U.S. benchmark oil futures saw a slight decline on Friday, booking a loss of nearly 3% for the week, the first weekly loss since mid-August.
October West Texas Intermediate crude CLV18, the U.S. oil benchmark, fell 2 cents to settle at $67.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange—the lowest finish for the contract since Aug. 21st. The contract recorded a 2.9% weekly loss, after two consecutive weeks of gains.
November Brent LCOX18 the global benchmark, however, added on 33 cents to settle $76.83 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange, marking a reversal from earlier declines that sent prices to an intraday low of $75.88. It settled down 1% for the week.
October natural gas NGV18 finished at $2.776 per million British thermal units, up 0.1% Friday, but marking at a weekly drop of 4.8%.
RIG COUNT
Weekly Summary: Total rigs engaged in the exploration and production in the U.S. were flat for the week ended September 7, 2018, holding at 1048. Land rigs fell -2 to 1026. The offshore rig count was up +1 to 19. Rigs drilling in the inland waters were +1 – from 2 up to 3.
Oil Rig Count: The US crude oil rig count lost -2, from 862 down to 860 for the week. There are 104 more rigs targeting oil than last year. Rigs drilling for oil represent 82.0 percent of all drilling activity.
US oil rigs tested an all-time high of 1,609 in October 2014. In contrast, the rigs hit 316 in May 2016—the lowest level since the 1940s.
Natural Gas Rig Count: The natural gas rig count – which plunged to its lowest in August of 2017 – gained +2 to 186. The number of rigs drilling for gas is lower by 1 rig than last year’s level of 187.
AMONG MAJOR OIL- AND GAS-PRODUCING STATES:
GAINERS
Louisiana and Wyoming gain 3 and 2 rigs respectively, while North Dakota and Alaska each gained one.
UNCHANGED
Five states were unchanged this week, namely California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.
LOSERS
New Mexico and Oklahoma each lost 2 rigs, while Utah lost one and Kansas lost its only drilling rig.
While the Permian basin still boasts 102 more rigs than this time last year, the Utica, Arkoma Woodford, Barnett, Cana Woodford, DJ-Niobrara, Granite Wash, and the Mississippian basins each have fewer rigs than they did a year ago.
Summary of Major Plays – Ranked By Rig Count
– Permian Basin 484 rigs compared to last week’s 486 rigs
– Eagle Ford 78 rigs compared to last week’s 78 rigs
– Cana Woodford 66 rigs compared to last week’s 67 rigs
– Williston 53 rigs compared to last week’s 52 rigs
– Marcellus 53 rigs compared to last week’s 53 rigs
– Haynesville 48 rigs compared to last week’s 49 rigs
– DJ-Niobrara 25 rigs compared to last week’s 24 rigs
– Utica 22 rigs compared to last week’s 22 rigs
– Granite Wash 13 rigs compared to last week’s 13 rigs
– Arkoma Woodford 7 rigs compared to last week’s 7 rigs
For more details on the latest national and state news regarding last Friday’s Baker Hughes rig count data, check out the interactive rig count dashboard on the Oklahoma Index tab of our website.
Compiled and Published by GIB KNIGHT
Gib Knight is a private oil and gas investor and consultant, providing clients advanced analytics and building innovative visual business intelligence solutions to visualize the results, across a broad spectrum of regulatory filings and production data in Oklahoma and Texas. He is the founder of OklahomaMinerals.com, an online resource designed for mineral owners in Oklahoma.
SOURCE: Baker Hughes
