The number of active US rigs drilling for oil climbed by 7 to 815 last week, Baker Hughes reported.
According to the forecast of analysts at Simmons & Co, the average oil and natural gas rig count would total 1,013 this year and 1,129 in 2019.
Currently, the total number of active oil and natural gas rigs in the US has averaged 972, compared with 876 rigs in 2017.
The number of drilling rigs is an indicator of the future volumes of oil output in the United States.
In its monthly energy outlook, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast that US crude output will rise by 750,000 barrels a day year-over-year in 2019. In its previous outlook it had expected an increase to 11.27 million barrels a day. EIA projects that US crude oil production will average 10.69 million barrel a day this year.
According to US financial services firm Cowen & Co, 58 out of 65 oil companies have indicated an 11% increase in exploration and production costs this year compared with a year earlier.
