US drillers planted an additional 15 oil rigs across the country this week, Baker Hughes said on Friday, reporting a data point that could pile on to the market carnage that sent oil prices down almost $3 a barrel.
The number of oil rigs rose to 859 this week, bringing the total rig count up to 1,059. Gas rigs declined by two to 198. And there were two mysterious miscellaneous rigs.
The US rig count jumped the most in — you guessed it — the Permian Basin in West Texas, with an increase of 11. That was followed by the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Canada Woodford in Oklahoma, the DJ-Niobrara in Colorado and surrounding states, the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas, the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and the Williston Basin in North Dakota. The non-Permian plays had an increase of just 1 rig each.
Texas had a total of 534 rigs working this week, up by nine from last week.
US oil prices fell $2.99 to $67.62 a barrel on Friday after remarks by Russia’s energy minister Alexander Novak spooked the markets. Novak said it could be time to look at easing the oil-production caps that Saudi Arabia, Russia and almost two dozen other countries agreed to in late 2016 in an effort to squeeze global supply and force prices up.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.