The US oil and gas rig count fell for the seventh week in a row this week, decreasing by 5, according to Baker Hughes, but US oil companies are still pumping oil at record rates.
The total oil and gas rig count now stands at 855, 197 down from this time last year.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States decreased by 3 according to the report, reaching 710. The number of active gas rigs decreased by 2 to reach 144.
Oil rigs have seen a loss of 151 rigs year on year, with gas rigs down 45 since this time last year, compared to 858 and 187 active rigs, respectively, at the beginning of the year.
Still, in the United States, weekly oil production is near an all-time high. So while the number of oil rigs have declined by 167 this year alone, production has grown from 11.7 million bpd at the beginning of the year, to 12.4 million bpd for week ending September 27, easing slightly off a 12.5 million bpd high.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday ahead of the data, after US unemployment rate fell to a 50-year low.
At 12:16 pm EDT today, WTI was up $0.32 (+0.61 percent) at $52.77-which is still off $3 week over week, and $6 off the price two weeks ago. Brent crude was trading up on the day as well, by $0.58 (+1.01 percent) at $58.29 down roughly $2.50 per barrel for the week.
Canada's overall rig count increased this week again, with oil and gas rigs climbing by 17, after last week's 8-rig increase. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are down 38 year on year.
WTI was trading down 0.15 percent shortly after data release, while Brent was trading up 0.33 percent.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More