U.S. Oil Rig Count Rises As WTI Prices Slide

Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil rigs in the United States rose by 6 to 189-a gain that may push prices down further.

The total number of active oil and gas rigs increased for the week by 5, with oil rigs increasing by 6 and gas rigs decreasing by 1.

Total oil and gas rigs in the United States are now down by 589 compared to this time last year.

The EIA's estimate for oil production in the United States stayed the same for the week ending September 25-the last week for which there is data, at 10.7 million barrels of oil per day. U.S. oil production is still down 2.4 million bpd from its all-time high reached earlier this year.

Canada's overall rig count rose by 4 this week. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are now at 75 active rigs, and down 69 year on year. 

The Frac Spread Count provided by Primary Vision rose this week, to 111 from 101 last week, indicating that companies are again focusing on completing already drilled wells instead of actively drilling new ones. 

WTI was trading sharply down on Friday, as was the Brent benchmark, coming off another major slump in the previous trading day. Prices have been under pressure due to the demand slump, and today prices feel further as President Trump notified the world that he and his wife tested positive for the coronavirus.

Prices slumped more than 4% in early morning trade. At 12:02 pm EDT, WTI was trading down 2.89% at $37.60-almost $4 down on the week. Brent was trading down 3.05% on the day, at $39.68-also down significantly on the week.  

At 1:16 pm, WTI was trading at $47.34 per barrel, with Brent changing hands at $39.57 per barrel.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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