Baker Hughes said total count was still down 72 rigs, or 10%, below this time last year RIYADH: US energy firms last week added oil and natural gas rigs for the first time in 10 weeks due to the biggest weekly increase in gas rigs since October 2016, energy services firm Baker Hughes Co. said in its closely followed report. The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, rose six to 680 in the week to July 7. Despite the previous week’s rig increase, Baker Hughes said the total count was still down 72 rigs, or 10 percent, below this time last year. US oil rigs fell five to 540 last week, their lowest since April 2022, while gas rigs rose 11 to 135 their highest since early June. HIGHLIGHT In the Permian in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, drillers added seven gas rigs, bringing the gas total up to a near 10-year high of 12, and cut six oil rigs, bringing the oil total down to a 15-month low of 330, according to Baker Hughes. In the Permian in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, drillers added seven gas rigs, bringing the gas total up to a near 10-year high of 12, and cut six oil rigs, bringing the oil total down to a 15-month low of 330, according to Baker Hughes. The seven Permian gas rigs added were the most in a week since January 2013. India’s June fuel demand rises 4.2% year on year India’s fuel consumption, a proxy for oil demand, rose by 4.2 percent year on year in June to about 19.31 million tons, data from the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell of the Indian Oil Ministry showed. Sales of gasoline, or petrol, climbed 6.2 percent to 3.15 million tons and sales of diesel increased around 5 percent to 7.91 million tons in June from a year ago, the data dated on Friday showed. Russian energy ministry says cutting oil exports by 500k bpd Russia’s energy ministry on Friday confirmed that it was cutting oil supplies by 500,000 barrels per day in August by cutting exports, state news agency TASS reported. EastMed pipeline project still viable, Edison CEO says A project to build a 2,000 km pipeline to bring natural gas from East Mediterranean fields to Europe is still alive, the CEO of Italian energy group Edison said on Friday. Edison CEO Nicola Monti said that the group, which is one of the promoters of the pipeline, was actively talking with Cyprus and Israel about the project. Last month, the energy minister of Cyprus told Reuters the country was proposing a shorter pipeline to bring gas from Israel’s East Mediterranean fields to the island where the gas could be partially liquefied to be transported to the European markets. The shorter connection could be seen as an alternative to the more ambitious EastMed pipeline. “A link between Israel and Cyprus can be a first portion of the (EastMed) pipeline we are promoting. Because from Cyprus we could then connect with Crete and Greece,” Monti said, speaking with journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of energy industrial lobby Confindustria Energia. He said he believed that the total costs of building the EastMed pipeline would be lower than the investment needed to build a shorter Israel-Cyprus connection, a liquefaction plant and the expenses of shipping the gas to European markets. (With input from Reuters)