Industry at a glance
Despite restricted Russian supply, due to the war in Ukraine, crude prices slipped in April. WTI dropped 6.2% to $101.78/bbl, with Brent trading at $101.78/bbl, down 13.2% compared to March. Despite lower prices, U.S. operators finally started ramping up drilling activity, which is typically the case in a high-price environment. The rig count averaged 690 units in April, up 4% from 662 counted in March. The majority of the increase was on the Texas side of the Permian basin, where operators added 17 rigs, an increase of 10%. In April, there were 4,223 DUCs in the U.S., 38% fewer than the year-ago tally of 6,857. DUCs in the Permian have plunged 57% on a y-o-y basis. International activity averaged 1,000 rigs in March, 33 less than in February.
- First Oil: A grand plan designed for U.S. offshore leasing (November 2025)
- Managed pressure drilling to manage pressure wells: Managed pressure unlocks offshore success (October 2025)
- Adaptive three-speed flow conditioning for multiphase cyclonic sand separation: Design, rationale and early field results (September 2025)
- Executive Viewpoint: The robots are here: They run on oil (September 2025)
- Canadian operators search for market stability (September 2025)
- Global drilling is a mixed bag during 2025 (September 2025)
- Subsea technology- Corrosion monitoring: From failure to success (February 2024)
- Applying ultra-deep LWD resistivity technology successfully in a SAGD operation (May 2019)
- Adoption of wireless intelligent completions advances (May 2019)
- Majors double down as takeaway crunch eases (April 2019)
- What’s new in well logging and formation evaluation (April 2019)
- Qualification of a 20,000-psi subsea BOP: A collaborative approach (February 2019)
