Baker Hughes data released Friday shows the U.S. oil rig counts jumped by 17 this week to 583, the highest level since October 2015, extending a nine-month recovery as drillers take advantage of crude prices that have held mostly over $50 a barrel since OPEC agreed to cut supplies in late November.
Including 145 rigs drilling for natural gas and one rig listed as “miscellaneous,” there are 729 working rigs, up by 158 from this time last year.
Oil vs. Gas
Conversely, the US natural gas rig count peaked at 1,606 rigs on September 12, 2008, and then hit a low of 81 rigs in the week ending August 26, 2016. US natural gas rigs fell 91% from their peak but rose 79% from their lows. You can see in the graphic that rigs drilling for natural gas now account for only 6% of the total rig count.
Oil & Gas Prices – Close of Friday, February 3rd
Benchmark WTI crude settled at $53.83, while Brent crude futures were $56.81, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers follow through on plans to reduce production in an effort to end a global oil glut and raise prices.
Natural gas for March delivery closed the week at $3.05 per million BTUs, down 34 cents (more than 10%) on the near-month contract compared with the prior week.
Oklahoma
The rig count in Oklahoma jumped 6 to 102.
Blaine (24), Grady (16) and Kingfisher (12) Counties all have double-digit rig counts and account for almost 51% of the total rigs in the state.
Check out our proprietary and interactive Rig Count Dashboard.
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO OUR WEEKLY OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY NEWSLETTER DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX FROM OKLAHOMAMINERALS.COM
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. ☞Email:g.knight@oklahomaminerals.com
