据世界石油4月1日休斯敦报道，在油价上涨和需求前景日益乐观的情况下，美国石油钻探业务以疫情爆发以来最快的速度增长。

根据贝克休斯周四发布的数据显示，本周全国范围内的石油钻机总数增加了13台，达到337台，这是自2020年1月以来的最大增幅。

在美国基准原油西德克萨斯中质原油（West Texas Intermediate）3月均价超过每桶60美元（2019年5月以来首个月高于这一临界值）之后，勘探商们对今年油价25%的上涨势头仍有信心。

乐观情绪还受到以下预期的支撑:随着新冠疫苗接种的激增，以及关闭了一年大部分时间的经济体开始重新开放，全球原油供应增速将不足以满足需求。尽管最近石油钻机的数量出现了激增，但只有疫情开始时的一半左右。

高盛集团（Goldman Sachs Group Inc.）大宗商品研究主管杰夫?柯里（Jeff Currie）在接受彭博社电视台采访时表示，即便是欧佩克（OPEC）和相关产油国达成协议，也无法阻止供应收紧。

郝芬 译自 世界石油

原文如下：

Drilling rig count climbs at fastest rate since the pandemic began

Oil drilling expanded in the U.S. at its fastest pace since the start of the pandemic amid rising prices and an increasingly optimistic demand outlook.

The total number of rigs searching for oil across the country rose by 13 this week to 337, the largest jump since January 2020, according to Baker Hughes data released Thursday.

Explorers are gaining confidence this year’s 25% run-up in prices is here to stay after the U.S. benchmark crude, West Texas Intermediate, averaged more than $60 a barrel in March -- the first calendar month above that threshold since May 2019.

Optimism has also been buoyed by expectations that global crude supplies won’t grow fast enough to satisfy demand as Covid-19 vaccinations proliferate and economies that shut down for the better part of a year begin reopening. Despite the recent jump, the oil rig count stands at about half of what it was when the pandemic began.

Even an agreement by OPEC and allied oil producers won’t head off that tightening of supplies, Jeff Currie, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s head of commodities research, told Bloomberg Television.