Baker Hughes reported an increase to the number of active oil and gas rigs in the United States on Friday. Oil and gas rigs increased by 13 rigs, according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs increasing by 10 to 869 this week, while the number of gas rigs increased by 3, hitting 186.
The oil and gas rig count now stands at 1,057-up 108 from this time last year.
Oil prices had been trading up earlier on Friday on the back of the International Energy Agency (IEA) report that suggested a boost to global oil demand growth by 110,000 barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day for 2019. By 10:29am EDT, WTI was trading up $0.73 (+1.09%) at $67.54 per barrel, with Brent trading up $0.65 (+0.90%) at $72.72-both down close to $1.00 per barrel from last Friday.
Goldman Sachs is still predicting an increase to WTI prices for the year, at $70 per barrel, with commodities head Jeffrey Currie believing that global economic growth will support higher average oil prices for 2018.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the price of Western Canada Select (WCS) fell to $38, to trade at its largest discount to WTI since 2013 due to inadequate pipeline capacity. Canada's oil and gas rigs for the week fell sharply by 14, bringing Canada's total oil and gas rig count to 209, which is 11 fewer than this time last year, with a 12-rig loss for oil and a 2-rig loss for gas.
EIA estimates for US production were down 100,000 barrels per day for the week ending Augusts 3, averaging 10.8 million bpd.
By 1:07pm EDT, WTI and Brent were still trading up. WTI was trading up 1.29% (+$0.86) at $67.67. Brent crude was trading up 1.25% (+$0.90) at $72.97 per barrel.
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