Economy · 18 d ago
Lazarus1255 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
US oil drillers hold back even as prices climb
Active US oil rigs
459 rigs
The number of active US oil rigs fell by three to 459 in the week to Oct 16, the energy services firm Baker Hughes said. The total oil and gas rig count held steady at 603.
Gas rigs rose by one to 133, and rigs in the Permian Basin fell by two to 272. The total count is still 55 rigs above a year ago.
The week before
13.979 million bpd
Week to Oct 9
13.679 million bpd
US crude production averaged 13.679 million barrels a day in the week ending Oct 9, down from 13.979 million the week before, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Background
The rig count fell in each of the last three years as firms paid down debt and rewarded shareholders instead of drilling more. The agency still expects US crude output to rise to 13.9 million barrels a day this year.
