U.S. Oil, Gas Drilling Perks Up As Pressure Mounts

Baker Hughes’ latest weekly report showed a rise in U.S. drilling activity, with the total count of active oil and gas rigs increasing to 599. The net gain reflects a three-rig rise among oil-directed units, which reached 455, and a one-rig increase among gas-directed units to 135; miscellaneous rigs remained steady at nine. Compared with the same week last year, total rigs are up by 50. Regional shifts were modest in the latest period. The Permian Basin added one active rig, bringing its count to 270, which is 17 more than a year earlier. In contrast, the Eagle Ford basin lost one rig and stood at 50, still five rigs higher than the year-ago level. Primary Vision’s weekly Frac Spread Count, an indicator of crews completing wells, also moved higher by three crews to 187 for the week ending Sept. 18. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data published for the week ending Sept. 18 showed U.S. crude oil production fell for a second consecutive week, averaging 13.939 million barrels per day. That was a slight decline from 13.944 mbpd the prior week but remained substantially higher than a year earlier by 438,000 bpd. Oil markets were trading lower on Friday ahead of the rig count release, with Brent near $103.83 per barrel (-2.60%) and West Texas Intermediate around $92.12 per barrel (-2.63%). The rig and completion metrics supplement these price moves by illustrating underlying drilling and well-activity trends that feed future supply dynamics.