The US oil and gas rig count fell again this week, according to Baker Hughes, continuing the downward trend with a drop of 5 rigs for the week, according to Baker Hughes. This week marks eleven decreases out of the last twelve weeks.
But the decline is unlikely to have a lasting or even immediate effect on prices.
The total oil and gas rig count now stands at 817, or 264 down from this time last year.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States decreased by 7 according to the report, reaching 684. The number of active gas rigs held fast at 130. Miscellaneous rigs this week rose by 2.
Oil rigs have seen a loss of 202 rigs year on year, with gas rigs down 65 since this time last year.
By state, Texas has seen a drop of 119 year on year, while Oklahoma sunk by 97 to hit 57 rigs.
Even though the number of oil rigs have declined by 191 this year alone, production has grown from 11.7 million bpd at the beginning of the year to 12.6 million bpd for the fifth week in a row for week ending November 1—a growth of almost 1 million bpd in less than a year. With the growing production and grim demand growth forecasts, the falling rig count has done little to boost prices.
Oil prices were up on Friday ahead of the data, with WTI up slightly at 12:42pm at $57.34 per barrel (+$0.19), which is $2 more than last week. Brent was trading up at $62.46 (+$0.17), which is up nearly $2 from last week.
Canada’s overall rig count decreased this week, with oil and gas rigs decreasing by 2, after last week’s 5-rig decrease. Oil and gas rigs in Canada now stand at 140, down 56 year on year.
At 12 minutes past the hour, WTI was trading at $57.15 and Brent was trading at $62.33.
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By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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