Counts of active drilling rigs in Permian Basin, Texas and U.S. continue to increase, according to Baker Hughes, as the oil and gas sector resumes adding jobs. As of Dec. 4, Permian has 164 rigs (161 previous week), Texas has 149 rigs (147 previous week), and U.S. has 323 rigs (320 previous week). Permian count is up 40 percent since 2020 low of 117 in August. New Mexico added 1 rig last week for a count of 59. Petroleum Equipment & Services Association said the industry added 2,665 jobs in November – the third straight month of gains.
Lea County, N.M., added 1 rig in the past week to remain Permian Basin leader with 31 followed by Eddy, N.M., with 28 (unchanged in past week), Midland with 20 (unchanged), Howard and Martin with 14 each, and Reeves with 13.
Rig counts in other leading states include Louisiana with 40 (up 1 in past week), Pennsylvania with 17 (down 3), Oklahoma with 13 (unchanged) and North Dakota with 11 (unchanged). Rig counts in other leading regions include Haynesville with 40 (unchanged), Marcellus with 25 (down 2), Eagle Ford with 23 (unchanged) and Williston with 11 (unchanged).
U.S. Energy Information Administration said this week it expects U.S. crude oil production to fall by 910,000 b/d from 12.2 million b/d in 2019 to 11.34 million b/d in 2020 and by another 290,000 b/d in 2021 to 11.10 million b/d. EIA also increased its forecast of Brent prices to average $49 per barrel in 2021 ($50/b in 2021Q4) – up from an expected average of $43/b in 2020Q4 – with rising global demand and restrained OPEC+ production. And EIA reported volume of U.S. natural gas that was vented and flared for 2019 was a record 1.48 Bcfd.