By Julianne Geiger – Apr 24, 2026, 12:11 PM CDT
The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, bringing the total rig count in the US to 544, down 43 from this same time last year.
But the number of active oil rigs specifically slipped by 3 to 407 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 68 below this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 4 after falling by 2 in the week prior. Gas rigs now sit at 129, which is 22 more than this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed the same at 8.
The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production fell during the week ending April 17. US crude oil production averaged 13.585 million bpd during the reporting period—277,000 bpd under the all-time high.
Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, fell during the week ending April 17 by 6 to 165 crews.
The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin stayed the same at 242, which is 47 rigs under year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford also stayed the same, at 42, which is 5 fewer than this same time last year.
Oil prices were down on Friday on more hopes that a deal with Iran would be forthcoming, as the stoppage of tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continues to stifle the flow of oil in the Gulf. Brent is now trading at $104.80 (-0.24%) per barrel. Although down on the day it is up significantly week over week. WTI was also trading down on the day at $93.96, but up $10 per barrel week over week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
