U.S. energy firms this week added to the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the first time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Thursday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by five to 548 in the week to April 2.
Despite this week’s rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 42 rigs, or 7.1% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by two to 411 this week, while gas rigs rose by three to 130.
The oil and gas rig count declined by about 7% in 2025, 5% in 2024, and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil prices prompted energy firms to focus more on boosting shareholder returns and paying down debt rather than increasing output.
Higher oil prices, driven by supply disruptions from the Middle East war, are expected to boost U.S. crude production, with output projected to average 13.61 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2026 and rise to 13.83 million bpd by 2027, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said.
Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil output fell the most in two years during January following a severe winter storm that knocked production offline in large swathes of the country, data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Tuesday.
On the gas side, EIA projected output would rise from a record 107.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025 to 109.5 bcfd in 2026 with spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana forecast to climb by about 7% in 2026.
U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas rose to an all-time high in March as plants ran above nameplate capacity and new units started up, preliminary data from financial firm LSEG showed.
(Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)