US drill rig count edges up as Texas, Permian gain: Baker Hughes
Quantum Commodity Intelligence - North American drilling activity increased for the first time in a month the week ending 21 April, as both Texas and the Permian Basin added rigs, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes reported.
The total weekly rig count increased by five units to 753, up by around 8% from the same time last year.
The number of rigs dedicated to crude increased by three to 591, which was up 42 on the year. Rigs drilling for natural gas was up two, standing at 159 for an increase of 15 on the year.
Texas added two rigs to stand at 377 units and 29 more than a year ago, while the Permian Basin, spanning West Texas and New Mexico, was also up two rigs at 358 for an increase of 24 on the year.
NYMEX WTI trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled on Friday (21 April) at $77.87/b for the Jun23 contract, down 5.6% on the week.
Front-month Jun23 ICE Brent futures closed Friday at $81.66/b, down 5.4% over the same timeframe.
Activity
Oil services firms have warned that US drilling activity is set to slow down in 2023, particularly in the gas sector.
"I think there's certainly a lot of moving parts in the North America market at the moment. And coming into the year, we expected some privates to drop oil rigs early in the year, but that would be gradually offset over the course of the year by the public E&Ps and some majors adding some rigs," said Lorenzo Simonelli, CEO of Baker Hughes, in an earnings call last week.
"The natural gas pricing has been weaker. And so we would expect 30 to 40 rigs also additional to be dropped over the course of 2023."
Natural gas improved slightly with the May23 Henry Hub contract on NYMEX closing at $2.23/mmBtu on Friday, but still near two-year lows.
Oil services giant SLB, previously known as Schlumberger, said: "In North America, we still expect tangible market growth but at a lower rate than originally anticipated at the start of the year, mainly as a result of ongoing weakness in gas prices."
SLB reported Q1 revenues at $7.74 billion, up 30% on the year. International revenue, accounting for 77% of SLB's total, increased 29%. North American revenue was up 32%.
