Baker Hughes: Oil Drillers In Canada Boost Rigs To 10-Month High

Jan 12 (Reuters) - Energy firms in Canada almost doubled the number of rigs drilling for oil this week to the highest level in 10 months as producers returned en masse from Christmas breaks and crude prices remain around three-year highs.
Drillers added 87 oil rigs during the week ended Jan. 12 bringing the total count up to 185, the highest level since March 2017, General Electric Co's Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday.
That was the biggest weekly increase since drillers added 89 rigs during the same week in 2017.
Energy firms in both the United States and Canada have mostly increased the number of rigs operating since the summer of 2016 as U.S. crude prices climbed over the key $50 a barrel level that analysts said would prompt drillers to return to the well pad.
U.S. crude futures traded around $64 a barrel this week, their highest levels since December 2014.
Drilling in Canada is seasonal.
The Canadian rig count usually increase in January as producers start drilling again after a Christmas break before declining in the spring when the snow melts and it becomes too muddy to operate. The industry calls that snow melt the spring break up.
The rig count usually increases again in the summer when the ground dries and holds around those levels through the end of December when the count drops during the last week of the year for the Christmas break.
In 2017, the oil rig count jumped from 52 during the last week of 2016 to a high for the year of 207 in February before falling to as low as 24 during the spring break up in April.
The count then climbed to 129 rigs during the summer and continued to grow to a high of 134 by mid December as rising crude prices encouraged drillers to add rigs before falling to 62 during the Christmas week of 2017.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
- Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies On Getting Smaller
- Iran Says Oil Market Is Too Tight For US Zero Exports Target
- China's Squeezed 'Teapots' Eye Petchem Path To Riches
- Baker Hughes: US Drillers Add Oil Rigs For Second Week In Three
- Venezuela Hands China More Oil Presence, But No Mention Of New Funds
- Turkey Halts Oil Flows to Mediterranean Port After Quake
- Fed Will Be One Of The Leading Oil Price Drivers in 2023
- Next Steps Following US Pacific Wind Leasing Round
- US Oilfield Services Firms Money Policy Could Hinder Industry Growth
- Australian Budget Must Focus On New Gas Supply, Industry Says
- Signs of Progress at Freeport LNG
- New SPR Bill Passes House
- Biden To Support ConocoPhillips Alaska Oil Project, Defying Greens
- Shell CEO Says World 'Desperately In Need' Of Natural Gas
- Energy Services Sector Will Grow To $1 trillion In 2025
- USA Oil and Gas Employs Almost 1 Million in 2022
- Fate Of $8Bn Alaska Oil Project To Be Resolved In Next 30 Days
- Winter Storm Mara Update
- New Discoveries Make 2022 Highest Value Year In Over A Decade
- Exxon Beats Earnings Record With With Massive $56 Billion
- European Union Debuts First-Ever Carbon Border Tax
- Valaris Employee Reported Missing from Rig
- Gasoline and Diesel Prices Expected to Fall
- Is the USA Shale Boom Over?
- New SPR Bill Passes House
- Higher Oil Prices Have Not Led to More Exploration
- Shell Finds Gas In Pensacola High-Impact Well Off UK
- Iran Oil Gushes Into Global Market
- Will Oil Hit $100 Per Barrel in 2023?
- Eni, Chevron Make Significant Gas Discovery Off Egypt
- What Bad Habits Should Oil and Gas Jobseekers Avoid?