Rig count rises slightly, crude futures show five-month gain

In the last week, the U.S. rig count, according to Enverus, rose by seven to 284, as of Sept. 9. The count of oil and gas rigs operating in the U.S. is down 1% in the last month and down 69% year-over-year.

Weekly increases have been noted in the Gulf of Mexico region, the Anadarko Basin and Appalachia.

Baker Hughes reported that U.S. crude oil production is expected to fall 870,000 bbl/d to 11.38 million bbl/d in 2020, a less steep decline than the 990,000 bbl/d that was forecast in August.

Even though U.S. oil prices are still down about 38% since the start of the year from lower demand due to coronavirus, U.S. crude futures have gained 100% over the past five months to around $37/bbl on Sept. 11, mostly on hopes global economies and energy demand will snap back as governments lift lockdowns.

Analysts said higher oil prices have encouraged some energy firms to start adding units in recent weeks but most firms still plan to keep cutting costs.

U.S. financial services firm Cowen & Co. said the independent E&P companies it tracks plan to cut spending by about 47% in 2020 versus 2019. Cowen also said that some E&Ps issued early estimates for 2021 that so far point to an 8% drop in spending next year versus 2020.

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