Hart Energy Unconventional Activity Tracker (Week of Nov. 29, 2021)

U.S. rig count falls slightly; oil, natural gas prices remain high

The active U.S. rig count fell by four in the last week, according to Enverus Rig Analytics. The count is up 2% over the last month and 67% in the last year. The largest week-over-week gains occurred in the Gulf Coast (up six) and the Anadarko Basin (up four). The Permian had the largest loss of seven rigs, and the Appalachian Basin lost six rigs.

Eleven operators in the Permian dropped at least one rig over the last week, while only six added one rig. Endeavor Energy Resources and EOG Resources were the only two operators to drop more than one rig. No companies added rigs in Appalachia over the last week, while five dropped rigs, including two which only had one rig active. Chesapeake Energy was the only operator to drop more than one rig, with its total count falling from four to two.

After closing at their highest levels since October 2014 early last week, WTI crude futures in the U.S. dropped to about $76/bbl Nov. 19 as surging COVID-19 cases in Europe threatened to slow the economic recovery.

But with oil prices still up about 57% this year, some energy firms said they plan to raise spending in 2021 and 2022. Natural gas prices have increased about 96% this year but it has not yet encouraged drillers to seek more gas. The oil rig count was up about 73% since the start of the year, while the number of active gas rigs was only up about 23%.

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