Texas recorded consecutive weeks of gains in count of active oil and gas drilling rigs as of Oct. 18 for the first time since April. Baker Hughes said Texas added 3 rigs in the previous week for a new total of 423 (540 a year ago) after adding 6 rigs in the Oct. 11 report (to reverse a 9-week decline). There are 422 rigs in Permian Basin (421 previous week, 490 previous year), 111 rigs in New Mexico (112 previous week, 100 previous year) and 851 rigs in U.S. (856 previous week, 1,067 previous year).
Other leading regions as of Oct. 18, according to Baker Hughes, include Eagle Ford with 60 rigs (60 previous week, 79 previous year), Williston with 55 (55 previous week, 52 previous year) and Haynesville with 52 (52 previous week, 50 previous year). Other leading states include Oklahoma with 60 rigs (62 previous week, 141 previous year), Louisiana with 55 (57 previous week, 64 previous year) and North Dakota with 54 (54 previous week, 52 previous year).
The U.S. Department of Energy said record production of an estimated 12.6 million barrels of crude oil per day continued last week. And the nation has broken its weekly record of crude oil exports by shipping nearly 3.7 million barrels a day – primarily from the Texas Gulf Coast. That makes the U.S. a net exporter of petroleum and products for the third straight week – the first time that’s happened multiple weeks in a row.