U.S. rig count surge by 11 this week

HOUSTON, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The active number of drilling rigs in the United States jumped by 11 this week mainly in the Permian Basin, according to weekly data collected by Baker Hughes, a GE company released on Friday.

Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that the overall rig count increased to 1,032 in total, the highest count since March 2015.

According to the company, oil rigs added 9 to bring the count to 834, with more than half of them situated in the Permian. There are 196 gas-seeking rigs and two miscellaneous rigs.

Despite this week's jump, the oil rig count is down 48 percent from its peak of 1,609 in October 2014, before oil prices began plummeting. However, rigs today are able to drill more wells than before and to deeper depths to produce more oil and gas. That's the main reason the U.S. is producing record volumes of both crude oil and natural gas nowadays.

Oil prices continued to climb on Friday on the potential new U.S. sanctions against Iran. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June delivery added 1.29 U.S. dollar to settle at 69.72 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for July delivery increased 1.25 dollar to close at 74.87 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem