US rig count up two as prices climb
Apr. 18—The rig count in the Permian Basin was unchanged this week, the latest count Thursday by Baker Hughes shows, with 289 rigs active in the region. A year ago, 318 rigs were active in the region.
Nationally, the oil and gas rig count is up two from last week at 585 rigs. A year ago, 619 rigs were active. The count shows that 481 rigs sought oil, up one from the previous week, and 98 explored for natural gas, up one from the previous week. The count also shows six miscellaneous rigs, unchanged from the previous week.
The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in August of 2020 at 244.
The regional benchmark Plains-West Texas Intermediate Posting ended Thursday at $61.16 per barrel, up $3.18 from last Friday's close. National benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude ended at $64.68 per barrel, up $3.18 from the previous week.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oil Traders Flock to Niche Options Market to Bet on Glut
(Bloomberg) -- Investors have ramped up wagers in a relatively obscure corner of the oil market that OPEC+ output hikes will lead to an eventual glut toward the end of this year and into 2026. ICE Moves to DNA-Test Families Targeted for Deportation with New Contract The Global Struggle to Build Safer Cars NYC Residents Want Safer Streets, Cheaper Housing, Survey Says The Buffalo Architect Fighting for Women in Design US Housing Agency Vulnerable to Fraud After DOGE Cuts, Documents Warn Open interest in calendar spread options — the difference between West Texas Intermediate crude's value over different delivery months — this week reached a record high, according to CME Group. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's latest report shows that speculators hold the biggest net position wagering on a weaker US crude futures curve since 2020. Oil traders are grappling with a host of major market drivers, from President Donald Trump's tariff war against some of the US's largest trade partners to an OPEC+ decision to add more barrels back to the market than was previously expected. On the flip side, there are also persistent geopolitical concerns looming over output from Russia to Iran and Venezuela. Those headline risks have made taking relatively cheap wagers on the structure of the forward curve more attractive, particularly with a glut expected to emerge later this year. At the same time, though, in the here and now markets remain robust, meaning not all of the flows have been betting on lower prices. It reflects the unusual 'hockey-stick' shape of the curve, where the market appears to be pricing tight supply through the end of 2025, then an oversupply next year. 'There is a lot of risk in the trade,' said Nicky Ferguson, head of analytics at Energy Aspects Ltd. Rising activity has been driven by 'strong prompt, weak deferred balances, and a very changeable geopolitical environment that makes holding futures difficult.' The WTI July-August spread weakened 3 cents Thursday to $0.93 a barrel as of 10:21 a.m. New York time, while December 2025-December 2026 was 10 cents stronger at $0.53. Some of the biggest bets would benefit from a collapse in the curve at the end of this year. Against that, in recent days buying of nearby contracts that would profit from a spread of more than $1 have helped propel the US benchmark's prompt timespread higher. The large positions could accelerate sudden moves in the intermonth spreads if dealers who have sold options need to re-balance their books by buying into rallies or selling into declines. 'The current backwardation in the front of the crude oil futures curve is a result of low inventory balances observed since the beginning of the year,' Bank of America analysts including Irina Shaorshadze and Francisco Blanch wrote. 'In contrast, the contango further out on the curve suggests the market anticipates future slack due to OPEC's planned supply increases and a broader deceleration of the global economy.' It's not just options bets on the US crude futures curve that are taking off. Similar contracts that wager on the structure of Europe's diesel benchmark also currently have record open interest of about 180,000 contracts, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said, underscoring the attraction of using such contracts to avoid headline risks. Calendar spread options can serve multiple purposes. While some traders use them as relatively cheap ways of gaining exposure to shifts in the futures curve, others tend to trade them as a hedge for large futures positions, effectively limiting losses should those trades go wrong, people involved in the market said. 'It provides unique leverage for speculators that no other assets can,' said Ilia Bouchouev, a managing partner at Pentathlon Investments who also teaches at New York University, and while at Koch Industries in the 1990s was part of a team that pioneered such contracts as replicas for a physical storage facility. 'When the market has a 9/10 chance of status quo and 1/10 of a massive explosion, the demand from buyers jumps and they are willing to overpay more to gain such leverage.' This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation. (Updates with current spread prices in sixth paragraph, updates charts with latest data) Cavs Owner Dan Gilbert Wants to Donate His Billions—and Walk Again YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Is Elon Musk's Political Capital Spent? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oil prices rise despite oversupply concerns
Oil prices rose on Thursday morning, as investors looked past concerns about oversupply and economic growth. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) climbed 0.5% to $65.15 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) declined 0.3% at $63.04 a barrel. Earlier on Thursday morning, Hargreaves Lansdown senior equity analyst Matt Britzman said oil prices had "weighed down by growing concerns of a global oversupply". Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks rise as traders await ECB interest rate decision "Saudi Arabia is pushing for a major increase in oil production and has slashed prices for Asian buyers, signalling weaker demand," he said. The July price cut by Saudi Arabia, which is the world's biggest oil exporter, comes after the decision from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies — known as OPEC+ — over the week to increase output next month. In addition, Britzman said "ongoing trade tensions are adding to market uncertainty". There are concerns that a slowdown in the global economy due to US president Donald Trump's tariff agenda would weigh on demand for fuel. The pound edged higher against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) on Thursday morning, rising 0.1% to trade at $1.3564 at the time of writing. The US dollar index ( which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, hovered around the flatline at 98.85. This followed weak US economic data on Wednesday, including a sharp slowdown in private sector hiring growth, as well as a contraction in services sector. On the back of the weak data from ADP's private sector jobs report, US president Donald Trump renewed his call for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, referencing the ADP report, Trump said that "Powell must now LOWER THE RATE. He is unbelievable!!!" Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank ( said: "Both the ADP and the ISM services prints led investors to price in more rate cuts this year, with clear moves in response to the two prints." Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio "In fact by the close, futures were pricing in 58bps (basis points) of rate cuts by the Fed's December meeting, up +8.0bps on the day, and the highest number in over three weeks. And there's growing confidence that we'll see the first rate cut by September, with futures now almost fully pricing (97%) one by that meeting." Attention now turns to the European Central Bank's (ECB) latest decision later on Thursday, with another rate cut expected to be announced. Hargreaves Lansdown's Britzman said: "Investors are all but certain the European Central Bank will cut rates later today down to 2%. Hopes for easing grew after Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.9% in May, just below the ECB's target. "More cuts are on the cards too, with interest rates expected to fall to 1.5% by the end of the year — low enough to start actively supporting the economy." Ahead of the decision, the pound was slightly higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X), up 0.1% at €1.1882 at the time of writing. Gold prices were muted on Thursday morning, as investors weighed weak economic data and the latest developments on trade. Following talks between the US and European Union (EU) in Paris on Wednesday, EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič tweeted: "We're advancing in the right direction at pace — and staying in close contact to maintain the momentum." Meanwhile, US trade representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement that he was "pleased that negotiations are advancing quickly." Read more: Bank of England governor expects interest rates and pay to decrease this year At the same time, trade tensions remain high between the US and China, with Trump having said in a post on Truth Social in the early hours of Wednesday that it was "extremely hard" to reach a deal with China's president Xi Jinping. The different signals on trade negotiations kept gold prices steady. Gold futures (GC=F) traded at $3,307.80 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price hovered around $3,374 per ounce. In broader market movements, the UK's FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was also little changed on Thursday morning, trading at 8,799 points. For more details, on broader market movements check our live coverage here. Read more: How next week's spending review could impact your finances What is the Pension Investment Review? Eurozone inflation cools to 1.9% in May paving way for interest rate cut
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oil prices rise despite oversupply concerns
Oil prices rose on Thursday morning, as investors looked past concerns about oversupply and economic growth. Brent crude futures (BZ=F) climbed 0.5% to $65.15 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F) declined 0.3% at $63.04 a barrel. Earlier on Thursday morning, Hargreaves Lansdown senior equity analyst Matt Britzman said oil prices had "weighed down by growing concerns of a global oversupply". Read more: FTSE 100 LIVE: Stocks rise as traders await ECB interest rate decision "Saudi Arabia is pushing for a major increase in oil production and has slashed prices for Asian buyers, signalling weaker demand," he said. The July price cut by Saudi Arabia, which is the world's biggest oil exporter, comes after the decision from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies — known as OPEC+ — over the week to increase output next month. In addition, Britzman said "ongoing trade tensions are adding to market uncertainty". There are concerns that a slowdown in the global economy due to US president Donald Trump's tariff agenda would weigh on demand for fuel. The pound edged higher against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) on Thursday morning, rising 0.1% to trade at $1.3564 at the time of writing. The US dollar index ( which measures the greenback against a basket of six currencies, hovered around the flatline at 98.85. This followed weak US economic data on Wednesday, including a sharp slowdown in private sector hiring growth, as well as a contraction in services sector. On the back of the weak data from ADP's private sector jobs report, US president Donald Trump renewed his call for Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell to lower interest rates. In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, referencing the ADP report, Trump said that "Powell must now LOWER THE RATE. He is unbelievable!!!" Jim Reid, market strategist at Deutsche Bank ( said: "Both the ADP and the ISM services prints led investors to price in more rate cuts this year, with clear moves in response to the two prints." Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio "In fact by the close, futures were pricing in 58bps (basis points) of rate cuts by the Fed's December meeting, up +8.0bps on the day, and the highest number in over three weeks. And there's growing confidence that we'll see the first rate cut by September, with futures now almost fully pricing (97%) one by that meeting." Attention now turns to the European Central Bank's (ECB) latest decision later on Thursday, with another rate cut expected to be announced. Hargreaves Lansdown's Britzman said: "Investors are all but certain the European Central Bank will cut rates later today down to 2%. Hopes for easing grew after Eurozone inflation dipped to 1.9% in May, just below the ECB's target. "More cuts are on the cards too, with interest rates expected to fall to 1.5% by the end of the year — low enough to start actively supporting the economy." Ahead of the decision, the pound was slightly higher against the euro (GBPEUR=X), up 0.1% at €1.1882 at the time of writing. Gold prices were muted on Thursday morning, as investors weighed weak economic data and the latest developments on trade. Following talks between the US and European Union (EU) in Paris on Wednesday, EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič tweeted: "We're advancing in the right direction at pace — and staying in close contact to maintain the momentum." Meanwhile, US trade representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement that he was "pleased that negotiations are advancing quickly." Read more: Bank of England governor expects interest rates and pay to decrease this year At the same time, trade tensions remain high between the US and China, with Trump having said in a post on Truth Social in the early hours of Wednesday that it was "extremely hard" to reach a deal with China's president Xi Jinping. The different signals on trade negotiations kept gold prices steady. Gold futures (GC=F) traded at $3,307.80 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price hovered around $3,374 per ounce. In broader market movements, the UK's FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was also little changed on Thursday morning, trading at 8,799 points. For more details, on broader market movements check our live coverage here. Read more: How next week's spending review could impact your finances What is the Pension Investment Review? Eurozone inflation cools to 1.9% in May paving way for interest rate cutError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
