Baker Hughes has reported that for the week ending June 10, the number of US rigs drilling for oil saw another three-rig increase. This marks the second week in a row that the number of US oil rigs experienced a bump. For the week ending June 3, the number of US rigs drilling for oil had increased by nine.
Year-on-year oil exploration, however, continues to be down 48.3 percent; there are still 307 fewer rigs targeting oil than there was this time last year.
Global oil prices may be up nearly 90 percent from levels seen during the first week of January, news outlets report, but many analysts feel that oil prices may have reached a stabilization point. Early Tuesday morning data showed that Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at $49.66 per barrel.
It should also be noted that the International Energy Agency today said they do not believe that oil barrel prices will advance too much higher due to global conditions.
Other sources note that recent deceases in production capacity out of Canada and Nigeria, which are expected to be restored, could place downward pressure on oil barrel prices once that capacity comes back on line.
Sources close to SteelOrbis say that although a possible stabilization of oil barrel prices, combined with recent upticks in US rig counts are a positive, it is “still too soon to call when the US energy pipe industry will start to recover.”
In terms of pricing, futures offers from Korean and Taiwanese producers of unfinished J55 ERW OCTG casing continue to be heard in the approximate range of $27.50-$29.50 cwt. ($606-$650/mt or $550-$590/nt), DDP loaded truck in US Gulf Coast ports, but as with last week, interest in booking futures is trending light.
US domestic prices for ex-mill J55 ERW OCTG casing are still “a little bit of all over the map,” another source notes, adding that there is still plenty of years-old pipe that is already on the ground, that is not yet spoken for.