Arab News

RIYADH: US energy firms last week cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating for the 10th time in 11 weeks, Baker Hughes said in its latest report. 

The rig count, an early indicator of future output, fell by five to 675 in the week ended July 14. 
The energy services firm said that puts the total count down by 81 rigs, or 11 percent, below this time last year. 

US oil rigs fell three to 537 in the week ended July 14, their lowest since April 2022, while gas rigs fell two to 133. 

In the Permian in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, the nation’s biggest shale oil basin, drillers cut five rigs, bringing the total oil and gas count down to 337, the lowest since May 2022, according to Baker Hughes. 

Data provider Enverus, which publishes its rig count data, said drillers kept the number of rigs operating flat at 732 in the week ended July 14. It lowered the total count to about 17 rigs in the last month and 14 percent year on year. 

Oil field firm SLB halts all shipments to Russia 

SLB, the world’s largest oil service and equipment provider, said it is halting shipments of products and technology into Russia from all its operations over an expansion of Western sanctions. 

SLB was one of the few providers to continue working in the country’s oil sector following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The latest ban has expanded restrictions in place since 2022 to more countries. The move came “in response to the continued expansion of international sanctions,” the company said in a statement. 

“SLB takes its responsibility to comply with export control and economic sanction laws extremely seriously, and the company remains aligned with the international community in condemning and calling for an end to the war in Ukraine,” the company said in a statement. 

The Curacao-domiciled firm recently had 9,600 employees working for top Russian oil and gas companies such as Gazprom Neft and Rosneft. The work contributed 5 percent of the company’s annual revenue of about $28 billion. 

(With input from Reuters)