The number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 11 to 341 this week according to oilfield services firm Baker Hughes, marking the fourth week of rises in the past five weeks.
Last week, the number of oil rigs dipped after three weeks of modest gains. This week marks only the fourth week of rig count gains for the entire year.
The number of gas rigs dropped one, bringing the total oil and gas rig count to 431—up from 421 the week prior. Coincidentally, that is a drop of 431 in the number of oil and gas rigs the same time last year.
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This week’s biggest gainers are Oklahoma and Texas, accounting for eight of the added rigs.
West Texas Intermediate (WIT) and Brent Crude are both up $.01 and $.02 respectively over yesterday’s close, but were trading higher before the report’s release.
This week’s gains—the largest in six months—may be the signal that the tide is finally turning, lending credence to claims made earlier in the week by Evercore ISI analysts that the bottom had arrived, suggesting that the worst was behind us “and a modest recovery in spending is underway.”
By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com
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I really hope that that's not the case though.