U.S. energy firms this week added rigs for the second time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday. The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by five to 593 in the week to August 14, its highest since March 2025.
Baker Hughes said this week’s increase puts the total count up 54 rigs, or 10%, over this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by one to 455 this week, their highest since May 2025, while gas rigs rose by four to 128, their highest since May 2026, and other miscellaneous rigs were unchanged at 10.
The oil and gas rig count declined by 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.
But now with spot U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude prices expected to rise in 2026 due to supply disruptions from the Iran war after declining in 2023, 2024 and 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that crude output will rise from a record 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025 to 13.8 million bpd in 2026.
On the gas side, EIA projected that output will jump from a record 107.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2025 to 111.2 bcfd in 2026 as demand for the fuel rises to produce electricity for power-hungry data centers and liquefied natural gas for export.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino and Anjana Anil; Editing by Mark Porter and Cynthia Osterman)