Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the United States fell by 1 this week. The total number of active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. is now at 402-or 390 fewer than this time last year.
The oil rig count fell by 1 this week, and the number of gas rigs stayed the same. The number of miscellaneous rigs also remained unchanged.
The EIA's estimate for oil production in the United States for the week ending March 5 rose by 900,000 bpd to 10.9 million barrels with higher oil prices and demand, enticing drillers to bring on more barrels.
Canada's overall rig count decreased this week by 25. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are now at 116 active rigs and down 59 year on year.
The Permian basin saw another increase this week in the number of rigs. The Permian's total rig count rose by 1, bringing the total active rigs in the Permian to 212, or 206 below this time last year.
While the rig count dipped this week, the Frac Spread count, provided by Primary Vision, rose from 165 to 182. The Frac Spread tracks the number of fracking crews working to complete wells.
WTI and Brent were trading slightly up on Friday before the data release, with the market confused which signal they should be following-OPEC's commitment to not ramp up production in April, or OPEC's forecast of even lower global oil demand for Q2 and bloated oil stocks in the United States.
At 12:22 p.m. EDT, WTI was trading up $0.09 per barrel at $66.11. Brent crude was trading up $0.01 at $69.64.
At 1:019 p.m. EDT, WTI was trading down 0.21% on the day at $65.88-nearly flat on the week. Brent was trading down 0.34% on the day, at $69.39.
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