This week, US drillers added oil rigs for an 11th week in the past 12, according to a recently published report. The rig count is increasing or holding steady every week so far this quarter.
Drillers recently added two oil rigs, bringing the total rig count up to 416, the most since February.
Analysts expect the rig count to rise slowly for the rest of 2016 before jumping higher over the next two years with a rebalancing of supply and demand. While US oil futures for the balance of 2016 are only fetching around USD $44 per barrel, calendars 2017 and 2018 are trading near USD $48 and USD $50, respectively.
Anadarko, an oil and gas E&P Company based in Houston, Texas, recently said it would boost capital spending and add four rigs by the end of the year, two in the Delaware basin in the Permian and two in the DJ Basin in Colorado.