US drillers add oil and gas rigs for first time in 10 weeks
Jul 18, 2023

July 7 (Reuters) - U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the first time in 10 weeks, due to the biggest weekly increase in gas rigs since October 2016, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said in its closely followed report on Friday.

The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose six to 680 in the week to July 7. RIG-USA-BHIRIG-OL-USA-BHIRIG-GS-USA-BHI Despite this week's rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 72 rigs, or 10%, below this time last year.


U.S. oil rigs fell five to 540 this week, their lowest since April 2022, while gas rigs rose 11 to 135 their highest since early June.

Data provider Enverus, which publishes its own rig count data, said drillers cut four rigs in the week to July 5, reducing the overall count to 732. That put the total count down about 10 rigs in the last month and down 13% year-over-year.

U.S. oil futures were down about 9% so far this year after gaining about 7% in 2022. U.S. gas futures, meanwhile, have plunged about 43% so far this year after rising about 20% last year.

The weekly gas rig count hike was unusual as the massive drop in gas prices has already caused some companies to reduce production by cutting rigs - especially in the Haynesville shale in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.


Despite some plans to lower rig counts, the independent exploration and production companies tracked by U.S. financial services firm TD Cowen were on track to boost spending by about 19% in 2023 versus 2022 after increasing spending about 40% in 2022 and 4% in 2021.

That increased spending will help keep U.S. crude production on track to rise from 11.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2022 to 12.6 million bpd in 2023 and 12.8 million bpd in 2024, according to projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in June. That compares with a record 12.3 million bpd in 2019.

U.S. gas production, meanwhile, was on track to rise from a record 98.13 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2022 to 102.74 bcfd in 2023 and 103.04 bcfd in 2024, according to EIA’s projection.


Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Marguerita Choy


View the full post on their website

Oil eases on higher US crude output, hopes of Israel-Hamas ceasefire

By Emalee Springfield • 02 May, 2024
HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Oil prices fell 1% on Tuesday, extending losses from Monday, on the back of rising U.S. crude production, as well as hopes of an Israel-Hamas ceasefire. Brent crude futures for June, which expired on Tuesday, settled down 54 cents, or 0.6%, at $87.86 a barrel. The more active July contract fell 87 cents to $86.33. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 70 cents, or 0.9%, at $81.93. The front-month contract for both benchmarks lost more than 1% on Monday. U.S. crude production rose to 13.15 million barrels per day (bpd) in February from 12.58 million bpd in January in its biggest monthly increase since October 2021, the Energy Information Administration said. Meanwhile, exports climbed to 4.66 million bpd from 4.05 million bpd in the same period. U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 4.91 million barrels in the week ended April 26, according to market sources citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Stocks were expected to have fallen by about 1.1 million barrels last week, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday. Official data from the EIA is due on Wednesday morning. Gasoline inventories fell by 1.483 million barrels, and distillates fell by 2.187 million barrels. Expectations that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas could be in sight have grown in recent days following a renewed push led by Egypt to revive stalled negotiations between the two. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Tuesday to go ahead with a long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. "Traders believe some of the geopolitical risk is being taken out of the market," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial. "We're not seeing any global supply being taken off the market." Continued attacks by Yemen's Houthis on maritime traffic south of the Suez Canal - an important trading route - have provided a floor for oil prices and could prompt higher risk premiums if the market expects crude supply disruptions. Investors also eyed a two-day monetary policy meeting by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC), which gathers on Tuesday. According to the CME's FedWatch Tool, it is a virtual certainty that the FOMC will leave rates unchanged at the conclusion of the meeting on Wednesday. "The upcoming Fed meeting also drives some near-term reservations," said Yeap Jun Rong, market strategist at IG, adding that a longer period of elevated interest rates could trigger a further rise in the dollar while also threatening the oil demand outlook. Some investors are cautiously pricing in a higher probability that the Fed could raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point this year and next as inflation and the labor market remain resilient. U.S. product supplies of crude oil and petroleum products, EIA's measure of consumption, rose 1.9% to 19.95 million bpd in Feb. However, concerns over demand have crept up as diesel prices weakened . Balancing the market, output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has fallen in April, a Reuters survey found, reflecting lower exports from Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria against a backdrop of ongoing voluntary supply cuts by some members agreed with the wider OPEC+ alliance. A Reuters poll found that oil prices could hold above $80 a barrel this year, with analysts revising forecasts higher on expectations that supply will lag demand in the face of Middle East conflict and output cuts by the OPEC+ producer group. View on the Reuters Website

Oil and gas industry’s “strong” free cash flow to support increasing production targets

By Emalee Springfield • 01 May, 2024
Last year, the demand for loans from oil and gas companies fell 6% year-on-year, and that followed a decline of 1% in 2022. Oil and gas companies don’t need a lot of loans because they’re generating so much money these days from their underlying businesses, said Andrew John Stevenson, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. And that trend is likely to continue through the end of the decade, he said. “The oil and gas industry has experienced a number of booms and busts over the past few decades, but for now, it appears to be flush with cash,” he said. The healthy balance sheets reflect the boost that companies have received from rising oil prices, buoyed by robust demand and OPEC+ production cuts. The sector’s free cash flow is so strong that the group’s leverage ratio, which measures a company’s net debt relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, fell to 0.8 in 2023 from 2.4 in 2020, Stevenson said. The ratio will likely slide below zero by the end of the decade, he said.
Share by: