(Reuters) – U.S. energy firms this week added oil and natural gas rigs for a second week in a row for the first time since early February, energy services firm Baker Hughes said in its closely followed report on Friday.
The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by two to 553 in the week to March 13, its highest since November 2025.
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Despite this week’s rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 39 rigs, or 7% below this time last year.
Baker Hughes said oil rigs rose by one to 412 this week, their highest since early February, while gas rigs rose by one to 133, their highest since late February.
In the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and Texas, the rig count rose by one this week to 54, the highest since May 2023.
In the Williston Shale in North Dakota and Montana, the rig count fell by one to 26, the lowest since November 2021.
In North Dakota, the rig count fell by one to 24, the lowest since November 2021.
The oil and gas rig count declined by about 7% in 2025, 5% in 2024, and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil prices prompted energy firms to focus more on boosting shareholder returns and paying down debt rather than increasing output.
Financial services firm TD Cowen said all 18 of the exploration and production (E&P) companies it tracks planned to spend about 1% less in capital expenditures in 2026 than in 2025.
That compares with a decline of around 4% in 2025, roughly flat year-on-year spending in 2024, and increases of 27% in 2023, 40% in 2022, and 4% in 2021. With U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) spot crude prices expected to rise in 2027 for the first time in four years due to the Iran War, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected crude output would climb from a record 13.59 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025 to 13.61 million bpd in 2026. On the gas side, EIA projected output would rise from a record 107.7 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) in 2025 to 109.5 bcfd in 2026 with spot prices at the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark in Louisiana forecast to climb by about 7% in 2026.
Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio
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