Pace of US Oil Drilling Inches Up
By Julianne Geiger - Jun 12, 2026, 12:12 PM CDT
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 563, up 1 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs rose by 2 for the second week in a row to 433 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 6 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs fell by 3 to 121, which is 8 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig stayed the same at 8.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose during week ending June 5. US crude oil production averaged 13.799 million bpd during the reporting period, up from 13.707 million bpd last week and up 371,000 bpd from a year ago.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, fell during the week ending June 5 by 2 this week, reaching 190 crews.
The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin fell by 1, reaching 256. This is 17 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same at 44, which is 4 more than this same time last year.
Oil prices were down on Friday, with Brent now trading at $87.17 (-3.55%) per barrel—a $7 per barrel loss week over week. WTI was also trading down on the day at $84.32 (-3.87%).
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
