U.S. oil and gas rig count up again; Permian booms
Friday October 21, 2016
U.S drillers sent 14 rigs back to the oilfield this week, the fifth increase in a row and the 17th in the past 20 weeks, the Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday.
The rig count climbed to 553, up from a low of 404 in May. The count, however, is still down more than 200 over the same period last year, when 787 were operating in U.S. oil and gas fields.
Drilling activity has followed a modest rebound in prices, from February's low of about $26 a barrel to more than $50 over the past week.
This week, the number of active oil rigs increased by 11 to 443. Gas rigs rose 3 to 108. The number of offshore rigs was unchanged, at 23.
Drillers operated 253 rigs in Texas, up 10 from the week prior; All of those came in the Permian Basin.