In its latest weekly release, Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. BHI reported another rise in the U.S. rig count (number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the country) – the twentieth straight periodical increase. This can be attributed to addition in the tally of oil-directed rigs as U.S. shale producers continue to ramp up production.

In fact, as per the U.S. Energy Department’s latest inventory release, at 9.342 million barrels a day, current crude output is up approximately 7% from the year-ago period and are at levels not seen since Aug 2015.

About the Baker Hughes Weekly Rig Count Report

The Baker Hughes data, issued since 1944 at the end of every week, acts as an important yardstick for energy service providers in gauging the overall business environment of the oil and gas industry.

Analysis of the Data

Weekly Summary: Rigs engaged in exploration and production in the U.S. totaled 916 for the week ended June 2, 2017. This was up by 8 from the previous week’s count and continues the trend of increases that has only been snapped four times during the past 1 year.

Since plunging to an all-time low of 404 in May 2016, rig counts have generally been rising over the past 12 months, with the addition of a flood of new units into a seemingly stable crude price environment hovering in a range around $50 per barrel. This steady climb has catapulted the current nationwide rig count to more than double the prior-year’s reading of 408.

Oil Rig Count: The oil rig count – accounting for some 80% of the total number of active domestic rigs – improved further (by 11) to 733. The largest gain came in West Texas’ Permian Basin, which now accounts for 364 rigs, or half of all the nation’s oil rigs.

With the Permian shale producing region continuing to see large increases in the rig count, the number of active domestic oil units have gone up for 5 months in a row. As a result of this sustained gain, the current tally is now the highest since Apr 2015. Moreover, they are significantly above the previous year’s rig count of 325.