Oil Prices Rise As U.S. Rig Count Drops

The number of active oil and gas rigs in the United States decreased this week by 8 rigs.

The total oil and gas rig count in the United States now stands at 928 rigs, up 389 rigs from the year prior, with the number of oil rigs in the United States decreasing by 5 this week and the number of natural gas rigs decreasing by 2. Miscellaneous rigs decreased by a single rig.

The oil rig count now stands 311 above the count one year ago, shedding a total of 20 oil rigs in the last eight weeks.

(Click to enlarge)

The spot price for WTI rose earlier on Friday as reports surfaced on Thursday that China's oil imports hit a new high in the month of September, and that its thirst for oil imports would be robust for at least the short term, and the uncertainty around the US sanctions on Iran. Reports from earlier in the week regarding OPEC's increased production for the month of September is doing its part in keeping prices from rising beyond its normal range as of late.

At 12:09pm EST on Friday, WTI is trading up $0.75 (1.48%) at $51.35-$2 over last week's price, and almost exactly where it was two weeks ago. Brent crude was trading up today $0.87 (1.55%) on the day at $57.12-almost $2 over last week.

Oil rigs in the United States now number 743-311 rigs above this time last year.

The biggest losers this week by basin were the Eagle Ford (-6) and Barnett (-4).

US crude oil production slipped a bit for the week ending October 06, standing at 9.480 million barrels per day-down from the week's prior 9.561 million barrels per day.

At 10 minutes after the hour, WTI had fallen further and was trading at $51.43. Brent crude was trading at $57.16.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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