The number of active drilling rigs in the United States rose by 5 this week—the 18 th straight weekly increase to the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States. The total rig count now has now reached 650, as the world watches for any signs of increased output from the United States that would allow a weaning off from Russian oil—at least in part. Baker Hughes reported this week that the total active rig figure—oil, gas, and miscellaneous—is 248 rigs higher than the rig count this time in 2021. Oil-directed rigs rose 2 to 522, while gas-directed rigs were up by 3 to 127. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same. U.S. weekly production of crude oil stayed the same for the third week in a row at 11.6 million bpd, according to the latest Energy Information Administration for the week ending February 18. The rig count in […]