US oil and gas rig count slips for fourth consecutive week
The number of rigs extracting crude oil and natural gas in the US fell by three to 746 last week, Baker Hughes reported.
PHOTO: Oil field with pump jacks in the US. Getty Images
The rig count fell for a fourth consecutive week for the first time since July 2020 and recorded the lowest number of weekly oil and natural gas rigs in operation since June 2022.
The number of oil drilling rigs in operation in the US was down by two units to 590 last week - the lowest oil rig count since June last year. The gas rig count dipped by one to 153.
Crude oil and natural gas producers have been reducing their activity levels as prices have cooled off this year, to well below the levels seen in the months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. Front-month ICE Brent crude settled at $82.78/bbl on Friday. Last March, it averaged above $100/bbl.
The rig count in the Permian Basin in Texas - the biggest US oilfield – dropped by six units to 343.
However, the total US oil and gas rig count was up by 83 rigs, or 13%, from a year earlier, when activity was still muted after a long period of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions.
By Debarati Bhattacharjee
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