The US oil and gas rig count fell by 8 again this week, according to Baker Hughes, adding to months of losses and bringing the overall rig count to the lowest in a year and a half.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States fell by 6 according to the report, reaching 770. The number of active gas rigs increased by 2 to reach 171.
The combined oil and gas rig count is now 942 for the week, with oil rigs seeing a loss of 89 rigs year on year, with gas rigs down 12 since this time last year. The combined oil and gas rig count is down triple digits, at 102 year on year.
Year-to-date, the oil rig count has fallen from 858 active rigs since the beginning of the year to 770, while gas rigs have fallen from 187 to 171 during that same time.
Oil prices were trading up on Friday morning, but the 2+% gains was not enough to offset the massive loss seen the day before after President Donald Trump announced a further tariff would be levied on the remaining $300 billion worth of goods coming in from China, to go into effect next month.
The price recovery seen early on Friday suggest that the recent crude inventory draws in the US, along with the conflict in the Persian Gulf, are superseding the fears of slower economic growth sparked by the additional tariffs on China.
At 9:08am EST today WTI was up $1.23 (+2.28%) at $55.18-down just $0.70 from this time last week. The Brent benchmark was also up on the day, by $1.58 (+2.61%) at $62.08-a $1 decrease from this time last week.
US production recovered this week after slipping in the week prior, to 12.2 million bpd for week ending July 26, adding 900,000 bpd in the week.
Canada's overall rig count saw an increase this week of 10, adding to last week's 9-rig increase. Canada's oil rigs are down 61 year on year, with gas rigs down 25 year on year.
WTI was trading up 3.37%, recovering from yesterday's huge loss.
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