US Rig Count Reaches 548 With Permian at 242 as WTI Settles $95.46, Drillers Defy Six Percent Weekly Crude Slide

The United States rig count climbed to 548 active oil and gas rigs for the week ending Friday, May 8, 2026, an increase of one from a week earlier, according to Baker Hughes. The Permian Basin gained a rig to reach 242 active units, and Canada added one to settle at 124 active rigs. The build came on a session in which West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $95.46 per barrel on the CME, up 0.69% on the day yet down roughly six percent from the $101.94 level cited in last week's Oil Authority weekly rig recap. ICE Brent settled at $100.54 per barrel, up 0.48%.

Three weeks of consecutive US gains, from 545 in mid-April to 547 last Friday and 548 today, mark the most sustained rebuild of 2026. The Permian, which makes up 44 percent of all active US rigs, recovered the rig it shed the prior week. According to Baker Hughes data, two regions added rigs in the week, the Permian and the Ardmore Woodford. No region declined, the cleanest tape Baker Hughes has reported since February.

Permian Productivity Has Quietly Doubled

The 242 rigs now active in the Permian compare with 304 a year ago, a 21 percent year over year cut. Yet US Energy Information Administration projections in the May Short Term Energy Outlook hold Permian crude output at roughly 6.6 million barrels per day in 2026, essentially flat with 2025. The arithmetic is striking: 242 rigs producing 6.6 MMbpd implies roughly 27,300 barrels per rig per day of basin output, against roughly 21,700 barrels per rig at last year's higher rig count. That is a 26 percent gain in barrels per rig in twelve months, the productivity dividend operators have repeatedly told analysts justifies the lower headline rig count.

The same dividend explains why drillers added a rig this week despite WTI sliding from $101.94 last Friday to $95.46 today. At a $95 strip, a Permian wellhead breakeven in the low $40s per barrel still produces operating margins of $50 plus per barrel before transport and royalties. The economics still warrant the build, just not at last year's rig count.

Subsidiary Plays Behind the Numbers

The Permian rig table is dominated by integrated majors and their subsidiaries. ExxonMobil operates Permian unconventional acreage through XTO Energy and the legacy Pioneer Natural Resources position acquired in 2024, with Q1 2026 Permian output of 1.5 million BOE per day reported in the company's earnings release. Chevron Corporation drilled out of the Hess shale assets brought into the Chevron portfolio in late 2024 alongside its existing Midland and Delaware position. ConocoPhillips ran its Permian program through legacy Burlington Resources and Concho Resources acreage now consolidated under the parent. Devon Energy, fresh off the Coterra merger close, is now the second largest Delaware operator after ExxonMobil.

Diamondback Energy chief executive Travis Stice said on May 5 that the company sees scope to add up to ten Permian rigs by year end if WTI holds in the mid 90s, a forecast that, if realized across the basin, would push Permian rigs above 250 by year end. Goldman Sachs and Wood Mackenzie have offered diverging readings of that signal: Goldman has lifted its 2026 Permian growth forecast modestly, while Wood Mackenzie continues to model a slight decline as efficiency gains plateau.

Canadian Side: 124 With AECO Drag

Canada's 124 active rigs, up one on the week, sit against a Western Canadian Select discount to WTI that widened to roughly $17 per barrel for May delivery in mid April, per the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and BOE Report market data. With WTI at $95.46, that puts WCS Hardisty in the high $70s, comfortably above heavy oil breakevens for Suncor, Cenovus, and Imperial Oil but well below the netbacks that drove the 2024 rig surge. AECO natural gas remains the larger constraint, leaving heavy oil rigs to do the work of lifting the Canadian count.

What the Build Means

A three week US rebuild of three rigs is small in absolute terms, but it is the strongest sustained signal of 2026 that operators are willing to step up activity even as Hormuz risk premia have begun to fade and WTI has slipped from triple digits. Whether it extends or stalls now turns on the EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report and on whether Brent holds above $100 through the second quarter.