Permian Basin Sees Largest Rig Hike This Year

MIDLAND, TX – Drillers in the world’s largest shale patch are fighting back after putting an additional 10 rigs back into to production this week counting for the biggest jump in activity since a price crash triggered an unprecedented collapse in drilling operations throughout the U.S.

Drillers in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico have led the rest of the nation in expanding the rig count.

As crude oil prices rose to $40 a barrel, the total number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 11 this week moving the current count of active rigs up to 183, according to Baker Hughes Co. data released Friday afternoon.

This increase in production throughout the Permian Basin was the biggest the industries seen since December, however despite the spike inactivity, overall drilling is still recuperating at levels that have not been seen since the early stages of the shale boom more than a decade ago.

Halliburton Co., the world’s largest fracking provider, expects the 'worst-ever' slump in oil exploration to end soon, noting that almost three fourths of the nation’s active oil rigs have been out of production this year as the pandemic-driven lock downs decimated energy demand, which sent oil prices plummeting back in March and throughout April.

Halliburton Chief Executive Officer Jeff Miller said during a recent interview, “We do see some recovery in the back half of this year.."

“Frack activity reached a bottom in the second quarter. I think we’ll see drilling activity reach a bottom in the third quarter and then some sort of modest recovery.”

In the latest update, West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, fell roughly 0.8%  down to $42.58 a barrel at approximately 1:23 p.m. in New York on Friday.