US drillers reduce oil and gas rigs in the US for the first time in six-weeks - Baker Hughes
Baker Hughes, a leading energy services company, said that the U.S. oil and gas companies have cut back on the number of oil rigs for the first six weeks.
The number of oil and gas rigs, a good indicator of future production, dropped by one in the week ending March 7 to 592.
Baker Hughes reported that the total number of rigs is 30 or 5% lower than it was at this time last week.
Baker Hughes reported that oil rigs remained unchanged at 486 rigs this week while gas rigs dropped by one to 101.
Oil and gas rig counts are expected to decline by 5% and 20% respectively in 2024, as the lower U.S. gas and oil prices in recent years have prompted energy companies to concentrate more on increasing shareholder returns and paying off debt than increasing output.
Although analysts predicted that U.S. crude spot prices would remain the same in 2025, U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that crude production would increase from a record 13,2 million barrels a day (bpd), in 2024, to around 13.6 millions bpd, in 2025.
The EIA predicted a 73% rise in the price of spot gas
The EIA predicted that gas production would increase to 104.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2025. This is up from 103.1 billion cubic foot per day in 2024, and a record high of 103.6 bcfd set in 2023. (Reporting and editing by Scott DiSavino, Brijesh Patel)
(source: Reuters)
