Must-know: U.S. leads global rig counts and oil growth
Last week's rig count indicates a possible lull in the oil market (Part 10 of 11)
U.S. rigs alone surpass rest of the worlds
According to Baker Hughes estimates, the U.S. rig count currently exceeds the total number of rigs in the rest of the world combined. Until August 2014, there was an average of 1,904 active rigs in the United States—compared to the 1,738 rigs combined for Africa, Asia-Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The Middle East comes in at a distant second to the U.S. It had 406 rigs for August 2014.
From 2009 to 2013, the U.S. continued to surpass the total international rigs combined by ~280 rigs—or 20%—on average.
Higher rig activities benefit rig servicing companies like Baker Hughes (BHI) and Schlumberger (SLB). These companies are components of the Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (OIH).
In the next part of the series, we’ll discuss how these companies will be affected by the recent policy shift in Mexico. We’ll also discuss how they will be impacted by the sanctions against Russian energy companies.
Crude oil production in the U.S. and in rest of the world
Between 2009 and 2013, the total number of rigs in the world increased by ~64%. During this period, oil production increased by 4.6%. Natural gas production increased by 9.5%.
From 2009 to 2013, international crude oil production—outside the U.S.—increased ~2%. In comparison, U.S. crude oil production grew by ~39% during the period.
In 2014, oil production in the U.S. increased more. From January to May, crude production increased ~10% to 8.1 million barrels per day (or bpd) on average—compared to 7.4 million bpd in 2013. Outside the U.S., oil production increased ~0.1% from January to May 2014 on average—compared to the 2013 levels.
The largest U.S. oil and gas companies—like ConocoPhillips (COP) and ExxonMobil (XOM)—are shifting their exploration and production focus to the U.S.
Check out Market Realist’s Energy & Power page for more interesting articles on the industry. Learn what’s been happening lately in the sector.
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