The US oil and gas rig count fell by 4 this week, according to Baker Hughes, which reported before Independence Day this week.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States fell by 5 according to the report, reaching 788. The number of active gas rigs increased by 1 to reach 174.
The combined oil and gas rig count is still 963 for the week, with oil seeing a 75-rig decrease year on year and gas rigs down 13 since this time last year. The combined oil and gas rig count is down 89 year on year.
Year-to-date, the oil rig count has fallen from 858 active rigs since the beginning of the year to 788, while gas rigs have fallen from 187 to 174 during that same time.
Despite the rig decline year on year, US production is almost 1.2 million barrels per day higher year on year-the equivalent of OPEC's production cut agreement.
At 12:00pm EST today WTI was down $0.16 (+.28%) at $57.18-more than a $2 per barrel decrease from last Friday as bleak demand growth forecasts sour the market-a factor that even OPEC's success at extending the production cut could change.
Unlike WTI, the Brent benchmark was trading up on the day, by $0.80 (+1.26%) at $64.10-off more than $1 per barrel from last week.
US production rose slightly for week ending June 28 to 12.2 million bpd, 200,000 bpd down from the all-time high of 12.4 million bpd.
Canada's overall rig count decreased by 4 after increasing by 5 last week. Canada's oil rigs are still down by 46 year on year, with gas rigs down 16 year on year.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More