Dec 9 (Reuters) – U.S. energy companies this week cut the number of operating oil and gas rigs for the first time in six weeks as oil prices fell to their lowest level this year.
The number of U.S. oil and gas rigs, an early indicator of future production, fell by four to 780 in the week to Dec. 9, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said Friday (BKR.O). ) in its closely followed report. , ,
US oil rigs fell two to 625 this week, while gas rigs were down two to 153, their lowest since July.
U.S. oil futures were trading around $71 a barrel on Friday, down about 6% so far this year, after topping $130 in March following Ukraine’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia.
The two largest U.S. oil companies – Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) and Chevron Corp (CVX.N) – this week unveiled plans to increase spending on energy projects next year amid demand and high oil prices.
While spending more, it will be less than half of the combined $84 billion they spent in 2013, when oil prices often traded above $100 a barrel as they do this year. Both are awash in cash thanks to these prices and past cost reductions, and have sharply increased payouts to shareholders, rather than increasing production.
U.S. crude production was on track to drop from 11.25 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2021 to 11.87 million bpd in 2022 and 12.34 million bpd in 2023, according to energy data federal. This compares to a record 12.32 million bpd in 2019. read more
US financial services firm Cowen & Co said the independent exploration and production (E&P) companies it tracks expect to increase spending by around 40% in 2022 compared to 2021 after increasing spending around 4% in 2021 compared to 2020.
This follows a drop in capital spending of around 48% in 2020 and 12% in 2019.
Some analysts, however, have noted that even when energy companies increase capital spending, it’s not necessarily to increase production, but rather for more expensive pipes and other equipment and labor costs. work on the rise due to soaring inflation and supply disruptions.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino Editing by Marguerita Choy
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