U.S. rig count jumps up again with 15 more Texas rigs
Friday July 22, 2016
The energy sector added 15 rigs overall in the U.S. to bring the total count up to 462 rigs, up from an all-time low of 404 rigs in May, according to data from the Baker Hughes oil field services firm. Of the total tally, 371 of them are primarily drilling for oil. The rest are seeking natural gas.
Apart from the Permian, other additions included three more rigs in Texas’Â Barnett shale, two in the Eagle Ford, and one in the Granite Wash in the Texas Panhandle
Despite this week's jump, the oil rig count is down 77 percent from its peak of 1,609 in October 2014 before oil prices began plummeting.
The price of U.S. oil hit a low $26.21 on Feb. 11. The price was hovering below $44 a barrel at noon on Friday, still well down from more than $100 a barrel in  mid-2014.