(Reuters) - Oilfield services company Hunting Plc (>> Hunting plc) said on Wednesday its revenue for the first quarter had been ahead of management's expectations due continued higher activity levels in US shale sector.

The company reported a positive EBITDA of $5.5 million (£4.40 million) for the first quarter ended March 31.

U.S. drillers added oil rigs for a 12th week in a row, extending the recovery into an 11th month as energy companies boost spending on new production to take advantage of a recovery in crude prices, energy services firm Baker Hughes Inc (>> Baker Hughes Incorporated) said April 7.

More than half of the rigs added since the recovery started in June after crude prices first topped $50 a barrel were in the Permian basin, the nation's biggest shale oil formation located in west Texas and eastern New Mexico.

Drillers last week added 12 rigs there, bringing the total up to 331, the highest since February 2015.

(Reporting by Sanjeeban Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)

Stocks treated in this article : Baker Hughes Incorporated, Hunting plc