US Rig Count Climbs for Second Straight Week, Hits 595
US energy firms added rigs for a second week in a row, the first back-to-back increase since July, energy services firm Baker Hughes reported Friday via Reuters. The total oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose by four to 595 in the week to September 18, its highest level since May 2024.
According to Baker Hughes, this week’s gain puts the total rig count up 53 rigs, or about 10%, from this time last year. Oil rigs rose by two to 452, their highest since August, while gas rigs rose by two to 134, their highest since February 2026. Miscellaneous rigs held steady at nine.
The rebound follows a multi-year pullback: the oil and gas rig count declined 7% in 2025, 5% in 2024, and 20% in 2023 as lower US oil prices pushed producers to prioritize shareholder returns and debt paydown over new drilling. But with West Texas Intermediate crude prices expected to rise in 2026 for the first time in four years, driven partly by supply disruptions from the Iran war, the US Energy Information Administration projects crude output climbing from a record 13.7 million barrels per day in 2025 to 13.8 million bpd in 2026. On the gas side, EIA projects output rising from a record 107.6 billion cubic feet per day in 2025 to 111.7 bcfd in 2026 as demand grows for power-hungry data centers and LNG exports.
What It Means for Subcontractors
Two straight weeks of rig additions, concentrated in both oil and gas, point to firmer near-term demand for drilling-adjacent field services: rig moves, wellsite construction, pipeline gathering tie-ins, and completions crews. The EIA’s growth outlook for both crude and gas output through 2026, tied partly to LNG export and data center power demand, suggests contractors serving Permian and Haynesville-adjacent basins should expect activity to hold or build through year-end rather than plateau.
