Rig Count Plunges For The Fifteenth Straight Week

Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the US fell again this week, by 13, to 266, suggesting that the slide in the number of active rigs is not yet over. The total oil and gas rigs is now sitting at 701 fewer than this time last year. The number of active rigs in the United States has continued to decline over the last fifteen weeks. The number of oil rigs decreased for the week by 10 rigs, according to Baker Hughes data, bringing the total to 189—compared to 789 active rigs this time last year. The total number of active gas rigs in the United States decreased by 3 to 75 according to the report. This compares to 177 rigs a year ago. The significant fall in the rig count over the last couple of months is also reflected in the steady decline of EIA’s estimate for oil production in the United States, which fell again this week to 10.5 million barrels of oil per day on average for week ending June 12, which is 2.6 million bpd off the all-time high and a staggering 600,000 bpd lower than the week prior. It is the eleventh straight weekly production decline...MORE