The weekly Baker Hughes rig count, dated December 5, 2025, painted a picture...
The weekly Baker Hughes rig count, dated December 5, 2025, painted a picture of cautious optimism, showing a modest yet meaningful increase in drilling activity across North America. The United States Total Rig Count rose to 549, an increase of 5 rigs from the previous week's 544. This upward momentum was the primary driver for the overall North America count, which climbed by 8 to 740 active rigs.
🇺🇸 The U.S. Story: Oil Rises, Gas Retreats
The increase was almost entirely driven by the Oil sector, which added 6 rigs, bringing the total to413. This gain slightly offset a minor pullback in the Gas sector, which dropped 1 rig to 129.
Looking at drilling methods, Horizontal rigs—the industry standard—saw a slight increase of 1, reaching 476. The most significant weekly change in drilling came from Vertical rigs, which jumped by 4 to 15.
The count also highlighted the ongoing migration of activity:
▫️Land drilling dominated, adding 3 rigs for a total of 527.
▫️The Offshore count (including the Gulf of Mexico) also showed growth, rising to 19 (U.S.) and 12 (Gulf of Mexico), respectively.
A Year-Over-Year Perspective
Despite the weekly gains, the industry remains structurally smaller than it was it was a year ago. The U.S. Total Rig Count of 549 is 40 rigs lower than it was in December 2024 (589). The year-over-year decline is most pronounced in:
Texas: Down a staggering 60 rigs from 286. Oil: Down 69 rigs from 482. Permian Basin: Down 53 rigs from 304.
In contrast, a few areas have seen significant growth over the past year, reflecting new areas of focus:
Louisiana is up 16 rigs from 30. The Utica basin is up 5 rigs to a total of 14.
Crown Point Buys 95% Stake in Argentina Oil & Gas Concessions
Crown Point Energy Inc. has successfully finalized the acquisition of a dominant...
Crown Point Energy Inc. has successfully finalized the acquisition of a dominant 95% working interest in the Chubut exploitation concessions in Argentina, significantly enhancing its production profile within the Golfo San Jorge Basin. This strategic move, totaling $57.9 million in cash, consolidates interests previously held by Tecpetrol SA and YPF SA (59.33%) with a prior 35.67% stake secured from Pampa Energia in October. The transaction was partially financed through a $30 million loan from Liminar Energia, with contingent payments of up to $3.5 million payable to Pampa upon closing.
The newly acquired assets are immediately accretive, with robust production over the first nine months of 2025 averaging 5,020 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). This output consists primarily of 4,500 barrels per day (bbl/d) of light and medium crude, alongside 3.13 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas sales.
This expansion underscores Crown Point's commitment to Argentina, where it is actively focused on exploration and development across four key basins: Golfo San Jorge, Austral, Neuquén, and Cuyo. The company's operations are strategically placed near the Neuquén Basin, home to the prolific Vaca Muerta Shale play, a critical area targeting a 1 MMbbl/d output benchmark by the end of the current decade.
We now know who’s playing whom in the 2026 FIFA World Cup....
We now know who’s playing whom in the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The drawing for the expanded 48-team group stage of next year’s Mundial, taking place in the US, Canada, and Mexico, happened yesterday in a flashy (albeit cringey) ceremony at the Kennedy Center in DC, during which President Trump was awarded the inaugural FIFA peace prize (devised after he didn’t get the Nobel). The tournament will begin on June 11 with Mexico playing South Africa. The US will face Paraguay, Australia, and the winner of the European playoff—which’ll be either Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, or Kosovo. The US team had solid luck with the ball—that is, with the little one used to draw the matchups—since its two known group opponents are teams it beat recently.
The man accused of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties on the eve of Jan. 6, 2021, has confessed to the FBI and said he believed the 2020 election was stolen, NBC News reports.
A Cloudflare outage knocked out websites including LinkedIn and Zoom yesterday morning, but service was restored. It’s the second major outage for the company in a matter of weeks.
Moore Threads, a Chinese chipmaker seen as the country’s answer to Nvidia, popped more than 400% in its trading debut on the Shanghai exchange.
The New York Times sued Perplexity, claiming the AI company violated its copyrights by producing verbatim copies of its text.
A federal judge approved the DOJ’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from a federal investigation into Jeffrey Epstein in Florida.
Dow ends up over 100 points, S&P 500 and Nasdaq log 4th straight day of gains
The S&P 500 pared back from a 0.6% jump that put it within a whisker...
The S&P 500 pared back from a 0.6% jump that put it within a whisker of October's all-time high. All three major indices remain close to record territory as Wall Street heads into next week's crucial Fed meeting with optimism about continued monetary easing.
Major Indices - Fourth Straight Day of Gains: The S&P 500 closed 0.19% higher at 6,870.40, putting the index about 0.7% off its intraday record. The Nasdaq Composite increased 0.31% to settle at 23,578.13, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 104 points, or 0.22%, to end the day at 47,954.99.
Key Economic Data | PCE Inflation Report: The core personal consumption expenditures price index for September, which was delayed due to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown, was lower than expected, reinforcing bets on a Fed rate cut next week.
Consumer Sentiment: The University of Michigan's preliminary December consumer sentiment index rose to 53.3 from 51 in November, beating economists' expectations. Year-ahead inflation expectations eased to 4.1% from 4.5%, the lowest since January.
Fed Rate Cut Outlook | Derivatives and futures pricing imply roughly an 80%+ chance of a 25-basis-point cut at the December 9-10 FOMC meeting. The weaker inflation data solidified expectations that the Fed will lower rates at its final meeting of 2025.
Bond Market |Treasuries are on track for their worst week since June, with the yield on the 10-year climbing to 4.14%.
From X.com: The era of US shale growth meeting 100% of rising oil demand is over
The era of US shale growth meeting 100%...
The era of US shale growth meeting 100% of rising oil demand is over. This will have major implications for energy prices because future demand growth will need to be met by conventional projects that will take 5-7 years to be brought online. #OOTT$USO$OILpic.twitter.com/c2f5rj7Dre
