On Friday, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co. revealed that last week, US rig count went up for the second consecutive week as more drillers return to their well pads after crude prices held gains made since recovering from coronavirus-linked lows in the spring.
In the week to September 25, the country’s oil and gas rig count went up by 6 to 261, with oil rigs climbed by 4 to 183 and gas rigs rose by 2 to 75.
Energy players in the US now have started to drill again on the back of the improvements in US crude futures. Over the last five months, US crude futures have gained 112% to roughly USD40/barrel due to the hopes of economic recoveries as governments lift lockdowns.
However, US oil prices are still slumping by around 35% since the start of 2020 on the back of the coronavirus demand destruction.
Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said that it was too early to make sure if the drilling activities have recovered horizontally, but there are signs towards more activity stabilization ahead.
Most energy companies have maintained the plans to cut costs as financial services firm Cowen & Co said the 45 independent exploration and production (E&P) companies it tracks plan to slash spending by about 47% in 2020 from last year’s level.
