The US oil and gas rig count continued to fall this week, according to Baker Hughes, falling by 3 rigs for the week, according to Baker Hughes, with no obvious end to the fall in sight.
For oil rigs, this week marks the fourteenth decrease out of the last sixteen weeks, falling 107 rigs in that timeframe.
The total oil and gas rig count now stands below 800 for the first time since March 2017, at 799, or 276 down from this time last year.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States decreased by 5 according to the report, reaching 663. The number of active gas rigs increased by 2, settling at 133.
By state, Oklahoma has shed 64% of its rigs year over year, while Pennsylvania has shed near 50%, dropping from 47 to just 24.
Even though the number of oil rigs have declined by 214 this year alone, production has grown from 11.7 million bpd at the beginning of the year to an all-time high of 12.9 million bpd, Âwhere US production finds itself for the second week in a row.
Oil prices were up on Friday ahead of the data, with WTI at 12:33pm at $59.10 per barrel, roughly up $1.20 from this time last week, and up $0.67 (+1.15%) on the day. The Brent benchmark was trading up $0.86 (+1.36%) at $64.25, up nearly $1.50 per barrel from last week's levels.
Canada's overall rig count increased this week, with oil and gas rigs increasing by 12, after last week's 11-rig decrease. Oil and gas rigs in Canada now stand at 138, down 48 year on year.
At 11 minutes past the hour, WTI was trading at $58.99 and Brent was trading at $64.17.
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