U.S. rig count highest in over three years
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Drillers added two oil rigs in the week to Oct. 26, bringing the total count to 875, the highest level since March 2015, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday.
For the month, the rig count rose 12 in October, the biggest monthly increase since drillers added 34 rigs in May. That was also the first time the count increased for four months in a row since July 2017, but the increases from July through to September where marginal as new drilling largely stalled due to pipeline constraints in the Permian Basin.
More than half the total U.S. oil rigs are in the Permian basin in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the country’s biggest shale oil formation. Active units there decreased by one this week to 489. Last week, the Permian count rose to its highest since January 2015. ■