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(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for the fifth week in a row for the first time since February 2025, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by seven to 558 in the week to May 22, its highest since June 2025.
Despite this week’s rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down eight rigs, or 1% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by 10 to 425 this week, their highest since July 2025, while gas rigs fell by three to 125, their lowest since mid-April, and other miscellaneous rigs held steady at eight. The 10-oil-rig build was the biggest increase in a week since February 2023.
In Texas, the nation’s biggest oil and gas producing state, the rig count rose by 10 to 255, the most since July 2025. That 10 rig addition was the biggest weekly increase in Texas since May 2022.
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 the Iran war after declining in 2023, 2024, and 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected crude output would rise from a record 13.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 to 13.7 million bpd in 2026.
On the gas side, EIA projected output would rise from a record 107.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025 to 110.6 bcfd in 2026, even though spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana were expected to ease by about 1% in 2026.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by David Gregorio
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