U.S. oil & gas rig weekly count falls to 542

U.S. energy firms cut oil and natural gas rigs, Friday, for the first time in seven successive weeks even as oil prices rose to new seven year highs.

The U.S. oil and gas rig count fell by 1 to 542 in the week to Oct. 22, energy services firm Baker Hughes announced in its closely followed report on Friday.
The report is an early indicator of future output, despite this week’s decline, the total rig count was still up 255 rigs, or 89%, compared to this time in 2020.

U.S. oil rigs fell 2 to 443 this week, while gas rigs rose 1 to 99. That was the first decline for oil rigs and the first increase in gas rigs since early September.

U.S. crude futures this week rose to their highest since 2014 and were trading around $84 per barrel on Friday on concerns about tight supply and low stockpiles.
With oil prices up about 72% so far this year, some energy firms announced they plan to boost spending in 2021 after cutting drilling and completion expenditures in 2019 and 2020.

U.S. oil production is expected to slide from 11.3 million barrels per day as registered in 2020 to 11.0 million barrels per day in 2021 before rising to 11.7 million barrels per day in 2022, according to government estimates.