Oil, Gas Rig Count in U.S. Rises for Second Week

(Corrects direction in headline.)

The oil and gas rig count in the U.S. fell by one this week to 1,761, according to data from Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)

The gas count increased by seven to 428, data posted on Baker Hughes Inc.’s website show. Oil rigs declined by eight to 1,329, the field-services company based in Houston said.

The total energy count has dropped for 10 out of the last 13 weeks as producers become more familiar with unconventional plays and are able to complete more wells with fewer rigs. More efficient drilling technologies have helped drive U.S. crude production to the highest level in more than 20 years, weakening the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Philadelphia Energy Solutions will receive two trains of oil a day at its refinery in Pennsylvania by the third quarter of this year, Philip Rinaldi, the company’s chief executive officer, said during an energy forum in New York yesterday. The company is set to become the world’s single largest consumer of Bakken crude by the end of the year, he said.

U.S. oil output climbed 54,000 barrels a day to 7.12 million in the week ended Feb. 15, the highest level since July 1992, the Energy Information Administration, a division of the Energy Department, said yesterday. Stockpiles rose 1.1 percent to 376.4 million barrels last week and reached a 22-year high of 387.3 million in June.

Gas stockpiles fell 127 billion cubic feet in the week ended Feb. 15 to 2.4 trillion, according to data compiled by the EIA. They reached a record high of 3.929 trillion cubic feet on Nov. 2.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net