U.S. Oil Rig Count Falls by 5 as Gas Rigs Rise

By Julianne Geiger - Aug 28, 2026, 12:24 PM CDT The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States stayed the same this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday, with the total rig count in the US staying at 588, up 52 from this same time last year.The number of active oil rigs fell by 5, sinking to 447 during the latest reporting period, according to the data. This is 35 above this same time last year. The number of gas rigs rose by 5 to 132, which is 13 more than this time last year. Miscellaneous rigs stayed the same at 9.The latest EIA data showed that weekly U.S. crude oil production rose during the week ending August 21. US crude oil production averaged 13.843 million bpd during the reporting period, up from 13.830 million bpd last week and up 461,000 bpd from a year ago.Primary Vision’s Frac Spread Count, an estimate of the number of crews completing wells, fell by 9 in the week ending August 21, to 184 crews, on top of the 3 crew loss in the week prior.The number of active drilling rigs in the Permian Basin stayed the same during the reporting period at 267. This is 12 rigs above year-ago levels. The count in the Eagle Ford stayed the same at 50, which is 11 more than this same time last year. Oil prices were down on Friday, with Brent now trading at $89.3594.23 (-0.39%) per barrel. This is down roughly $5 per barrel from this time last week. WTI was also trading down on the day at $83.21 (-0.38%). By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads From Oilprice.comAramco Finds a New Way to Keep Saudi Crude Flowing to ChinaMIT Uses AI to Challenge a Century-Old Process for Mass Ammonia ProductionQatar and Kuwait Restore 70% of Pre-War Oil Exports Through Hormuz Download The Free Oilprice App Today Back to homepage