Egypt’s top oil producer, Texas-based Apache, posted three-year high gross output of 144,500 b/d for Q3, with its rig count at an eight-year high. The firm’s average Q3 rig count of 18 at its Western Desert acreage was the highest since early 2015, though Q3’s output growth of 4,000 b/d “was a bit below expectations,” CEO John Christmann says (see chart 1).