Baker Hughes reported a 3-rig decrease for oil and gas in the United States this week. The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs now stands at 1,079 according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs decreasing by 3 to reach 885 and the number of gas rigs holding steady at 194.
The oil and gas rig count is now 156 up from this time last year.
Crude oil prices picked up earlier in the trading day after a very rough start to the week that saw prices fall 7% on the day on Tuesday. On Wednesday, prices held on a higher note despite the Energy Information Administration's report that showed a build of 4.9 million barrels in crude oil inventory-in contrast to the surprise draw that the API reported on Tuesday.
The WTI benchmark was trading up 3.44% (+1.84) at $55.27 at 1:18 pm EST-still a couple dollars shy of last week's prices, with Brent trading up 2.27% (+1.42) at $63.95-also down significantly from last week.
Canada's oil and gas rigs for the week increased by 7 rigs this week after gaining 1 rig last week, bringing its total oil and gas rig count to 204, which is 11 fewer rigs than this time last year, with a 6-rig increase for oil rigs, and 1 rig increase to the number of gas rigs.
The EIA's estimates for US production for the week ending November 16 were for an average of 11.7 million bpd for the second week in a row-the highest production rate for the United States.
By 1:26pm EDT, WTI was trading up 3.50% (+$1.87) at $55.30. Brent crude was trading up 2.45% (+$1.53) at $64.06 per barrel, still down week on week.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilpricee.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