Oil Holds Steady Amid Small Rig Count Decline

The the number of active oil and gas rigs in the United States fell again this week according to Baker Hughes, as the overall rig count reaches the lowest point since February 2018.
 
The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in the United States fell by 2 according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs increasing by 1 to reach 789 and the number of gas rigs decreasing by 4 to reach 177. Miscellaneous rigs saw an increase of one.
 
The combined oil and gas rig count is 967, with oil seeing a 73-rig decrease year on year and gas rigs down 11 since this time last year. The combined oil and gas rig count is down 85 year on year.
 
Year-to-date, the oil rig count has fallen from 877 active rigs since the beginning of the year to 789, while gas rigs have fallen from 198 to 177 during that same time.
 
Despite the rig decline year on year, US production is still almost 2 million barrel per day higher year on year.
 
At 8:46am EST today WTI was up $0.40 (+.70%) at $57.47—an almost $5 per barrel increase from last Friday on increased tensions between the United States and Iran continue to push up prices. 
 
The Brent benchmark was trading up on the day as well, by $0.86 (+1.33%) at $65.31—a $3 per barrel increase from last week. 
 
Robust US oil production is also keeping the prices in check, although falling back for the second week in a row on June 14 to 12.2 million bpd down from the all-time high of 12.4 million bpd.
 
Canada’s overall rig count increased by 12. Canada’s oil rigs are still down by 23 year on year, with gas rigs down 18 year on year.
 
WTI was trading up 0.79% on the day at 1:12pm EST, with Brent up 1.16%.
 
 

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com