(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week added rigs for a sixth time in seven weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by one to 588 in the week to July 31.
Baker Hughes said this week’s increase puts the total rig count up 48 rigs, or 9% above this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by one to 451 this week, their highest since mid-July, while gas rigs held at 127 and other miscellaneous rigs held at 10.
In the Eagle Ford shale in South Texas, the rig count rose by two to 49, the highest since March 2025.
In the Utica in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, the rig count fell by one to 11, the lowest since May 2025. The Utica, along with the Marcellus, makes up the Appalachia formation, the biggest U.S. gas-producing shale basin.
In the state of Ohio, the rig count fell by one to 10, the lowest since May 2025.
The oil and gas rig count declined by 7% in 2025, 5% in 2024, and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil prices prompted energy firms to focus more on boosting shareholder returns and paying down debt rather than increasing output.
But now with spot U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices expected to rise in 2026 due to supply disruptions from the Iran war after declining in 2023, 2024, and 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected crude output will rise from a record 13.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 to 13.8 million bpd in 2026.
On the gas side, EIA projected output will jump from a record 107.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025 to 111.3 bcfd in 2026 as demand for the fuel rises to produce electricity for power-hungry data centers and liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio
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