US drillers add oil and gas rigs for first time in three weeks in Oil & Companies News 27/04/2026 U.S. energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for the first time in three weeks, energy services firm Baker Hughes (NYSE:BKR) said in its report on Friday. The oil and gas rig count rose by one to 544 in the week to April 24, its highest since mid-April. The rig count is an early indicator of future output. Baker Hughes said the total count was down 43 rigs, or 7%, below this time last year. Oil rigs fell by three to 407 this week, their lowest since February, while gas rigs rose by four to 129, their highest since early April. Miscellaneous rigs held steady at eight. The oil and gas rig count declined by about 7% in 2025, 5% in 2024, and 20% in 2023. Lower U.S. oil prices prompted energy firms to focus more on boosting shareholder returns and paying down debt rather than increasing output. Baker Hughes releases its rig count report weekly. The data tracks the number of active drilling rigs across the United States. Source: Investing.com 2026-04-27 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share