The US oil and gas rig count fell by 8 this week, according to Baker Hughes, adding to months of losses, as US oil production falls to lowest levels since October 2018.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States fell by 3 according to the report, reaching 776. The number of active gas rigs decreased by 5 to reach 169.
The combined oil and gas rig count is now 946 for the week, with oil seeing a 85-rig decrease year on year and gas rigs down 17 since this time last year. The combined oil and gas rig count is down 102 year on year.
Year-to-date, the oil rig count has fallen from 858 active rigs since the beginning of the year to 776, while gas rigs have fallen from 187 to 169 during that same time.
Oil prices were trading slightly down on Friday morning, the fears of a Middle East showdown in the Strait of Hormuz unable to push up prices after being trumped by greater fears of an economic slowdown and weak demand outlook.
At 11:32am EST today WTI was down $0.15 (-0.27%) at $55.87-just up $.40 per barrel week on week. The Brent benchmark was down slightly on the day, by $0.18 (-0.28%) at $63.08-a $1 increase from this time last week.
US production fell sharply for week ending July 19 to 11.3 million bpd, more than 1 million barrels down from the all-time high in the United States, and the lowest production level since October of last year.
Canada's overall rig count saw an increase this week of 9 after increasing of 1 last week. Canada's oil rigs are down by 69 year on year, with gas rigs down 27 year on year.
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