Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the US fell again this week by 35, falling to 339, with the total oil and gas rigs sitting at 648 fewer
than this time last year-a more than 65% drop off in a single year.
It is the fewest number of active rigs since Baker Hughes started to keep track in 1940.
The number of oil rigs decreased for the week by 34 rigs, according to Baker Hughes data, bringing the total to 258-a 544-rig loss year over year. It is the fewest number of active oil rigs in play since mid-2009.
The total number of active gas rigs in the United States fell by 1 according to the report, to 79. This compares to 185 a year ago.
The EIA's estimate for the week is that oil production in the United States fell to 11.6 million barrels of oil per day on average for week ending May 8, which is 1.5 million bpd off the all-time high and 300,000 bpd lower than the week prior. It is the sixth straight weekly production decline.
Canada's overall rig count decreased by 3 rigs this week, to 23 rigs. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are now down 40 year on year.
At 12:12pm, WTI was trading up 6.31% at $29.30, while the Brent benchmark was trading up 3.37% at $32.18, on several bullish figures heading into the weekend, including a rebound in China's oil consumption, a sharp dropoff in US production, and reports from the EIA that crude oil inventories fell this week by more than 700,000 barrels.
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