Industry at a glance
Despite restricted Russian supply, due to the war in Ukraine, crude prices slipped in April. WTI dropped 6.2% to $101.78/bbl, with Brent trading at $101.78/bbl, down 13.2% compared to March. Despite lower prices, U.S. operators finally started ramping up drilling activity, which is typically the case in a high-price environment. The rig count averaged 690 units in April, up 4% from 662 counted in March. The majority of the increase was on the Texas side of the Permian basin, where operators added 17 rigs, an increase of 10%. In April, there were 4,223 DUCs in the U.S., 38% fewer than the year-ago tally of 6,857. DUCs in the Permian have plunged 57% on a y-o-y basis. International activity averaged 1,000 rigs in March, 33 less than in February.
- Driving MPD adoption with performance-enhancing technologies (January 2024)
- Rig electrification drives down emissions, bolsters efficiency while improving onshore drilling economics (October 2023)
- Wellbore seal control and monitoring enhance deepwater MPD operations (October 2023)
- Advancing casing drilling to deepwater: Rethinking top hole well construction (August 2023)
- Mobile electric microgrids address power demands of high-intensity fracing (July 2023)
- Utilizing electronic data captured at the bit improves PDC design and drilling performance (July 2023)
