An Exxon Mobil Corp. oil drilling rig near Stanton, Texas. (Justin Hamel/Bloomberg News)
Drilling in the U.S. shale patch declined at the fastest pace in almost two years as mounting international trade tensions threaten to stifle energy demand.
The number of U.S. rigs drilling for crude — a closely followed metric that can point to future oil output — fell by nine to 480 this week, the biggest drop since June 2023, according to data released by Baker Hughes Co. on April 11.
Domestic oil prices have been hovering around the low $60s-a-barrel, below levels that energy executives have said they need to make new drilling profitable. The rig-fleet decline reflects the anticipation of weakening demand in the U.S. shale patch, despite President Donald Trump’s push to supercharge U.S. production, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Scott Levine.
“Rig count has recently been steady,” Levine said. “This is a bigger drop than what we’ve seen recently.”
