Baker Hughes reported a 4-rig increase for oil and gas in the United States this week, bringing the total number of active oil and gas rigs to 1,067 according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs increasing by 4 to reach 873 and the number of gas rigs increasing by 1 to reach 194. Miscellaneous rigs fell by 1.
The oil and gas rig count is now 154 up from this time last year.
Crude oil rallied on Friday as China's oil demand surged in September, with its refinery runs reaching 12.49 million bpd, more than 600,000 bpd higher than run rates in August. Further support for oil prices on Friday came from a newly surfaced document purporting that OPEC and its allies were having difficulty boosting production by 1 million bpd like it had promised in June.
At 11:57pm. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was trading up 1.02 percent at $69.41 on the day-but down roughly a buck-fifty less than last Friday's pre-rig count price. Brent Crude was also trading up on the day by 1.08 percent at $80.15-nearly flat from this time last week.
Canada's oil and gas rigs for the week decreased by 4 rigs this week after gaining 13 rigs last week, bringing its total oil and gas rig count to 191, which is 11 fewer rigs than this time last year, with an 4-rig decrease for oil rigs, and gas rigs holding steady.
EIA's estimates for US production for the week ending October 12 were for an average of 10.9 million bpd--easing off last week's brand new high of 11.2 million bpd.
By 1:08pm EDT, WTI was trading up 1.14% (+$0.78) at $69.49. Brent crude was trading up 1.10% (+$0.87) at $80.16 per barrel.
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