U.S. drillers added oil rigs for an 11th week in a row in the best quarter for boosting the rig count since the second quarter of 2011, as a ten-month recovery gathers pace with energy companies boosting spending on new production.
Drillers added 10 oil rigs in the week to March 31, bringing the total count up to 662, the most since September 2015, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc said on Friday.
During the same week a year ago, there were 362 active oil rigs.
The 137 rigs added in the first quarter is the biggest boost in a quarter since the drillers activated a record 152 rigs in the second quarter in 2011, according to Baker Hughes data going back to 1987.
This recent rig count increases have come despite a collapse in U.S. crude futures this month to levels seen when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to cut production on Nov. 30.
