According to foreign reports on June 14, Baker Hughes, an American energy service company, said in his highly watched report on Friday that the number of active oil and gas drilling rigs in American energy companies continued to decrease this week, falling to a new low since January 2022.

Data show that as of the week of June 14, the leading indicator of future production - the total number of oil and gas drilling rigs in the United States decreased by 4 to 590, falling for the second consecutive week.

Baker Hughes said that the total number of drilling rigs decreased by 97, or 14%, compared with the same period last year.

Baker Hughes announced that the number of oil rigs decreased by 4 to 488 this week, also the lowest level since January 2022; The number of natural gas drilling rigs remained unchanged at 98, the lowest since October 2021.

In Texas, which has nearly half of the country's active drilling rigs, the total number of drilling rigs decreased by 2 to 285, the lowest level since January 2022.

The number of oil and gas drilling rigs in the United States increased by 33% and 67% in 2022 and 2021, respectively, and then decreased by about 20% in 2023. The reasons are the decline in crude oil and natural gas prices, the rise in labor and equipment costs caused by soaring inflation, and enterprises' focus on debt repayment and improving shareholder returns rather than increasing production.

After the oil price fell by 11% in 2023, U.S. crude oil futures have risen by about 10% since 2024; U.S. natural gas futures have risen about 15% so far this year and plunged 44% in 2023.

According to the latest outlook of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the rise in oil prices will encourage drillers to increase US crude oil production from a record 12.9 million barrels per day in 2023 to 13.2 million barrels per day in 2024 and 13.7 million barrels per day in 2025.

Although the price of natural gas futures is currently rising, some producers cut their spending on drilling activities earlier this year after the price fell to a three-and-a-half-year low in February and March.

According to the EIA, the decline in the number of drilling rigs is expected to reduce the natural gas production of the United States to 102.1 billion cubic feet/day in 2024, lower than the record 103.8 billion cubic feet/day in 2023.

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