U.S. energy firms left the overall rig count unchanged for a second consecutive week, 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, held at 588 in the week to September 4.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by 2 to 449 this week, while gas rigs fell by 2 to 130, and other miscellaneous rigs remained unchanged at 9.
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 (EIA) projected that crude output will rise from a record 13.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 to 13.8 million bpd in 2026.
On the gas side, EIA projected output will jump from a record 107.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) 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 (LNG) for export.
(Reporting by Sumit Saha and Scott DiSavino; Editing by Alistair Bell)