US energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the third time in four weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday, reports Reuters.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by 4 to 623 in the week to Feb. 9, its highest since mid-December.
The US oil and gas rig count dropped about 20 per cent in 2023 after rising by 33 per cent in 2022 and 67 per cent in 2021, due to a decline in oil and gas prices, higher labor and equipment costs from soaring inflation and as companies focused more on paying down debt and boosting shareholder returns instead of raising output.
Despite this week's rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 138 rigs, or 18 per cent, below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said US oil rigs held steady at 499 this week, while gas rigs rose by 4 to 121, their highest since September.
US oil futures CLc1 were up about 7 per cent so far in 2024 after dropping by 11 per cent in 2023. U.S. gas futures NGc1, meanwhile, were down about 27 per cent so far in 2024 after plunging by 44 per cent in 2023.
Seventeen of the independent exploration and production (E&P) companies tracked by US financial services firm TD Cowen said they planned to cut spending by around 2 per cent in 2024 versus 2023.
In 2023, 25 of the E&Ps TD Cowen tracks said they planned to raise spending by around 27 per cent versus the prior year after boosting spending about 40 per cent in 2022 and 4 per cent in 2021.
Despite lower prices, spending and rig counts, US oil and gas output was still on track to hit record highs in 2024 and 2025 due to efficiency gains and as firms complete work on already drilled wells.
The total number of drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells remaining dropped to a record low of 4,374 in December, according to federal energy data going back to December 2013.
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