Baker Hughes reported an additional seven U.S. rigs this week, bringing the total number of active oil and gas rigs to 1.055, according to the report. The number of active oil rigs increased by 7 to reach 867 while the number of gas rigs held steady at 186.
The oil and gas rig count is now 119 rigs higher that it was this time last year.
At 11:37am. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was trading up 0.13 percent at $68.68-over $1 per barrel up over this time last week, while Brent Crude was trading down 0.20 percent at $78.02-about $1.50 above last week's levels. The mixed directions of WTI and Brent likely the cause of a perfect storm of catalysts including increasing worries that Iran's oil exports will be curtailed beyond what OPEC and friends can offset with their own production. Other factors contributing to the volatility of oil prices include Venezuela's continuing freefall into economic collapse, violence in Libya's oil-rich areas, and fears that the trade war between China and the United States may indirectly hurt oil demand if global trade were to slow.
Canada's oil and gas rigs for the week picked up 22 rigs this week after losing 24 rigs last week, bringing its total oil and gas rig count to 226, which is 14 more than this time last year, with a 15-rig increase for oil and a 7-rig increase for gas for the week.
On the production side, the EIA's estimates for U.S. production for the week ending September 7 were for an average of 10.9 million bpd.
By 1:09pm EDT, WTI was trading up 0.83% (+$0.57) at $69.16. Brent crude was trading up 0.18% (+$0.14) at $78.32 per barrel.
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