By Brijesh Patel

March 14 (Reuters) - U.S. energy firms this week kept the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating unchanged, energy services firm Baker Hughes BKR.O said in its closely followed report on Friday.

The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, was steady at 592 in the week to March 14. RIG-USA-BHI, RIG-OL-USA-BHI, RIG-GS-USA-BHI.

Baker Hughes said that puts the total rig count down 37, or about 6% below this time last year.

Baker Hughes said the oil rig count rose by one to 487 this week, while gas rigs fell by one to 100.

The oil and gas rig count declined by about 5% in 2024 and 20% in 2023 as lower U.S. oil CLc1 and gas NGc1 prices over the past couple of years prompted energy firms to focus more on boosting shareholder returns and paying down debt rather than raising output.

Even though analysts forecast U.S. crude prices will remain unchanged in 2025, the U.S. Energy Information Administration $(EIA)$ projected crude output will keep hitting all-time highs for the next two years.

U.S. oil output will plateau by the end of this decade, CEOs of Occidental Petroleum OXY.N and ConocoPhillips COP.N said this week at the CERAWeek conference in Houston.

On the gas side, the EIA forecast a 73% increase in prices NG-W-HH-SNL in 2025 would prompt producers to boost drilling this year after a 14% price drop in 2024 caused several energy firms to cut output for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand for the fuel in 2020. NGAS/POLL

It projected production, which last hit a record in 2023 at 103.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), will rise from 103.2 bcfd in 2024 to new all-time highs of 105.2 bcfd in 2025 and 107.5 bcfd in 2026.

U.S. gas use is set to continue hitting record highs due to soaring liquefied natural gas $(LNG)$ demand and power consumption from data centers, executives said at CERAWeek, while also warning a lack of infrastructure could hurt the industry.

(Reporting by Brijesh Patel in BengaluruEditing by Marguerita Choy)

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