US oil drilling slumps to lowest level since September - Baker Hughes  

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - North American oil drilling activity registered another sharp retreat the week ending 3 February, as the overall rig count dropped by the largest amount since June 2020, oilfield services firm Baker Hughes reported.

The number of rigs dedicated to crude fell by 10 to 599, the lowest since September, having already fallen by 14 units over the previous two weeks.

The overall oil and gas rig count dropped by 12 to 759, also the lowest since September, as rigs drilling for natural gas fell by two to 158.

Texas dropped by three to 377 units but is still up 90 on the year, while the Permian Basin, spread across West Texas and New Mexico, was also down by three rigs at 354 for an increase of 60 on the year.

Exxon reported last week the Permian basin delivered record production for the US major of more than 560,000 bpd oil-equivalent in the fourth quarter.

ConocoPhillips said its Q4 production came in at 997 million boepd, including 671 million boepd from the Permian basin, 214 million boepd at Eagle Ford and 96 million boepd at Bakken.

US crude production was unchanged for a fourth consecutive week at 12.2 million bpd, according to the latest weekly data from the Energy Information Administration.

Meanwhile, a new study showed oil and gas operators in the Permian Basin emit methane at vastly different rates, as some operators have reduced emissions to near zero while others display emissions rates more than 20 times the norm.

NYMEX WTI trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange settled on Friday (3 February) at $73.39/b for the Mar23 contract, a fall of 7.9% on the week.

Front-month Mar23 ICE Brent futures closed Friday at $79.94/b, down 7.5% over the same timeframe.