U.S. Rig Count Adds 5; Oil Jumps To Highest Price Since December '14

After breaking the 1,000-mark last week for the first time in three years, the U.S. combined rig count continued its steady rise this past week as the price of WTI Crude Oil jumped more than $5 since April 6.

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The active U.S. rig count continued its long-standing climb last week, adding five 10 to a new count of 1,008.

Breaking the 1,000-rig milestone last week for the first time in three years, the U.S. added seven oil rigs last week and lost two gas rigs. The current oil rig count — 815 — is up 132 year-over-year (YoY), or 19.3 percent and is at its highest count since March 20, 2015 (825). The active gas rig count of 192 is up 30 YoY, or 18.5 percent. The U.S. miscellaneous rig count remained at one.

The U.S. combined rig count has increased by 79 so far through 15 weeks of 2018, which has included 10 weekly gains and four decreases.

U.S. rig count has increased by 74 so far through 14 weeks of 2018, which has included nine weekly gains and four decreases.

Of last week's combined rig count, Texas added three and Oklahoma added two, while Colorado and Louisiana each added one. Kansas, New Mexico and West Virginia lost one apiece.

Below is the daily U.S. rig count provided by Drillinginfo on its DailyRigcount.com â€” a microsite that utilizes data from GPS tracking units and publicly-reported information to monitor oil and gas drilling rig movements in the U.S. Unlike raditional rig counts — such as those from Baker Hughes — typically define a rig as active only when it is "turning to the right," and have been released on Friday afternoons every week since 1944, whereas DailyRigCount defines a rig as active from the time a GPS tracking unit identifies it at a permitted oil and gas drilling location until the time it leaves, and is released daily.

Canada/North America

Canada's seasonal rig count decline continued last week, though with a much smaller decline than in previous weeks. Canada lost nine total rigs last week, following losses of 23, 27, 58 and 54 the previous four weeks, respectively. Canada's rig count moved to 102 on Friday per Baker Hughes, and that count is down 16 YoY, or 13.6 percent. Canada lost seven oil rigs last week and two gas rigs, with its oil rig count of 41 now up by one YoY and its gas rig count of 61 down by 17.

Friday's North American combined rig count of 1,110 decreased by four from a week earlier and was up by 145 YoY, or 15.0 percent.

Oil Price Update

The price of WTI Crude oil has a considerable climb throughout this past week, rising nearly $5 since Monday's opening. Oil began Monday, April 9 at $62.29 and climbed $1.54 that day, gained $1.49 Tuesday and another $1.74 on Wednesday to close that day at $67.06. Prices settled in the rest of the week, peaking at $67.71 at one point Friday afternoon. Oil was at $67.25 as of 3:45 p.m. Friday.

Oil hadn't been above $67 since early December 2014.

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