Drillers in U.S. add oil & gas rigs for first time in three weeks

For the first time in three weeks, U.S. energy businesses added oil and natural gas rigs this week, as relatively strong crude prices encouraged some firms to drill more, mostly in the Permian Basin. The number of oil and gas rigs, an early sign of future output, increased by four to 763 in the week ending September. According to Baker Hughes, the overall rig count is up 251, or 49%, from this time last year.

This week, oil rigs in the United States increased by 8 to 599, while gas rigs decreased by 4 to 162. The largest rise in rigs occurred in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, the largest oilfield in the United States, which increased by three to 343 this week, the most since August. According to energy executives, after climbing for a record 24 months in a row, the combined rig count dipped in August and was on course to decrease again in September due to supply chain concerns, infrastructural bottlenecks, and inflation.

Morgan Stanley said this week that US oil output is up roughly 520,000 barrels per day in the first half of the year, putting it on course to fall short of its prediction of an 800,000 bpd increase – it now expects production to climb by 650,000 due to slower rig count growth.