US Oil, Gas Drillers Hang Back in Volatile Market
By Julianne Geiger - Jul 10, 2026, 1:00 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 581, up 44 from this same time last year.
The number of active oil rigs stayed at 445 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 21 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs also stayed the same, at 126, which is 18 more than this time last year. The gain was courtesy of the miscellaneous rig count, which gained 1, for a total of 10.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose during week ending July 3. US crude oil production averaged 13.860 million bpd during the reporting period, up from 13.810 million bpd last week and up 475,000 bpd from a year ago.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, rose by 5 in the week ending July 2, to 205 crews.
The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin fell by 5, reaching 256. This is 9 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford rose by 3 to 47, which is 6 more than this same time last year.
Oil prices were down on Friday, with Brent now trading at $75.72 (-0.76%) per barrel, which is still up nearly $4 per barrel from this time last week. WTI was also trading down on the day at $71.26 (-1.14%).
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
