According to Baker Hughes, an oil and gas service company, over the past week, the number of operating oil drilling rigs in the United States has decreased by 4 to 873 units. As a result, America's leadership position on this issue has been shaken, analysts say.

According to experts, this figure is the minimum value since mid-October this year. Previously, an even more significant decline was recorded by 10 pieces. Experts consider such a weekly drop as the highest since April 2016. The previous impressive reduction in the number of drilling rigs was in mid-August 2018, when their number decreased by 9 pieces.

The total number of oil and gas rigs decreased by 4 to 1075 units. During the reporting period, the number of gas installations remained the same, 198 units.

Recall, the absolute record for the number of operating oil installations in the United States was reached in October 2014. At that time, their number was 1609 pieces. This year, the peak values were reached last week from November 14 until November 16, when the number of active rigs was 888.

According to statistics from the US Department of Energy, published last Wednesday, December 12, the volume of oil production in the country fell to 11.6 million barrels per day. This was preceded by three weeks of stability when production levels remained at 11.7 million barrels per day. Experts believe this figure is quite high.