The Baker Hughes rig count for the current week shows oil im inventories up 2 to 431 . Natural Gas inventories are down -1 to 124 and Total rigs are up 1 to 563.
The decline in rigs has been hard since the peak above 1000 rigs back in early 2019. What is the stories behind the declines?
2018 boom: The rig count averaged over 1,400 historically, but the modern shale era has been far more efficient. The period started strong with rigs climbing to a cycle peak of 1,083 in November 2018 as oil prices were high and shale was in full swing.
2019 slide: Even before COVID, the count was already retreating — oil prices softened and investors pushed E&P companies toward capital discipline over growth, pulling the count down to around 800 by late 2019.
2020 COVID crash: The most dramatic event on the chart. The pandemic and the Saudi-Russia price war simultaneously crushed demand and flooded supply. The rig count collapsed from ~800 to just 244 by August 2020 — an all-time record low in the modern era.
2021–2022 recovery: A strong, steady climb through Biden’s term as oil prices surged (partly due to the Ukraine war), peaking at around 784 in December 2022.
2023–2025 slow bleed: Despite high oil prices at times, the count drifted downward as efficiency improvements meant fewer rigs were needed to hold production flat, and capital discipline remained the industry mantra. As of mid-May 2026, the total U.S. rig count stood at 551. The most recent reading from May 29 shows 562 — a slight uptick, possibly reflecting the Hormuz crisis incentivizing more domestic drilling.
The key takeaway: the U.S. now produces more oil than ever with far fewer rigs, a testament to how much more efficient horizontal drilling and completion technology has become.
