| US Rig Count for Week Ended April 17: Lowest in Nearly Six Years | |
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US Rig Count Down Last Week: Drop in Crude Oil and Natural Gas to Blame (Part 1 of 11) US total rig count
According to oilfield services company Baker Hughes (BHI), there were 954 active oil and gas rigs in the United States during the week ended April 17, 2015. This was 34 fewer active rigs than in the week ended April 10. After last week’s fall, the average four-week US rig count drop has now slowed to 29. In comparison, rig count drop averaged 60 in the four weeks before that.
The US rig count generally experienced an uptrend in 2014, but that trend has reversed in the past five months. Nineteen consecutive weeks of falling rig counts show that US drilling activity is on a downturn.
Rig count lowest since July 2009
After last week’s drop, the US rig count was at its lowest level since July 31, 2009. A fall in the onshore rig count led the week’s figures. According to Baker Hughes, March’s average rig count of 1,110 declined by 238 over February’s average of 1,348. September 2014’s average rig count of 1,931 was the highest since July 2012.
Energy companies like Exxon Mobil (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), and Hess Corporation (HES) have upstream operations. A falling rig count should typically lead to a slowdown in production growth and possibly even a decline in production.
Some of these companies are part of the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE). XOM accounts for 15% of XLE’s total market capitalization. COP accounts for 4.8% of the iShares U.S. Energy ETF (IYE).
Why have total US rig counts been falling for so long? We’ll explore this issue in the next part of our series.
Continue to Part 2 Browse this series on Market Realist:
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Exxon Mobil is a and oil producing company based in United states of america. Exxon Mobil is listed in Germany, in United Kingdom and in United States of America. Its market capitalisation is US$ 477.3 billions as of today (€ 429.4 billions). Its stock quote reached its lowest recent point on March 14, 1997 at US$ 100.12, and its highest recent level on September 06, 2024 at US$ 112.64. Exxon Mobil has 4 237 270 016 shares outstanding. |