The active U.S. rig count fell by one in the last week and is up count is up by 4% over the last month and 68% in the last year. The largest week-over-week increase occurred in the Denver-Julesburg (D-J) Basin, which gained four rigs, followed by the Anadarko Basin with a two-rig increase for a total of 59. Other basins were flat or changed by only one rig.
In the D-J Basin, Civitas Resources increased its rig count from two to four in the past week. Civitas, which formed after the 2021 merger of two Colorado oil and gas companies (Bonanza Creek Energy and Extraction Oil & Gas), also acquired Denver-based Crestone Peak Resources.
The slight rig count increase comes despite oil price declines in six of the past seven weeks. As of Dec. 10, however, WTI was trading around $71/bbl, putting the U.S. crude futures contract on track for its first increase in seven weeks.
Still, despite oil prices soaring about 47% this year, U.S. shale producers have not added to production—investors have pressured oil companies to restrain drilling and return more of their profits to shareholders.
At a recent conference in Houston, Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources Co., said he worries oil prices could get too high and further roil markets after years of underinvestment in the sector. Sheffield said Pioneer is holding firm on plans to grow its production by 5% in 2022, adding one to two rigs per year.
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Some energy firms have increased spending after cutting drilling and completion expenditures in 2019 and 2020. However, much of that spending has gone to completing wells that were drilled in the past (DUC) wells.
U.S. oil production is expected to slide from 11.3 million bbl/d in 2020 to 11.2 million bbl/d in 2021 before rising to 11.9 million bbl/d in 2022, according to government projections. That compares with the all-time annual high of 12.3 million bbl/d in 2019.
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