Baker Hughes reported on Friday that the number of oil and gas rigs in the US fell again this week, by 5, to 253, marking the nineteenth straight loss in the number of active rigs, even as some analysts were predicting a rise in the number of active drilling rigs.
The total oil and gas rigs is now sitting at 701 fewer than this time last year.
The number of oil rigs decreased for the week by 1 rig, according to Baker Hughes data, bringing the total to 180-compared to 779 active rigs this time last year.
The total number of active gas rigs in the United States fell this week by 4 rigs, landing at 71 total rigs. This compares to 174 rigs a year ago.
To compare active rigs with supply figures, the EIA's estimate for oil production in the United States was steady for the fourth week in a row at an average of 11 million barrels of oil per day for week ending July 10. Oil production in the United States is still 2.1 million bpd less than the all-time high for US production.
Canada's overall rig count rose this week by 6, settling at 32 active rigs. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are now down 86 year on year.
Oil prices were trading down on the day in the early morning, but within a couple of hours both the Brent and WTI benchmarks had rallied. By 12:36pm EDT, WTI was trading down 0.17% at $40.68 while Brent was trading down $0.17 at $43.20. WTI and Brent are up about $1 since this time last week.
At 1:06pm, prices were essentially unchanged from earlier in the day, with WTI trading at $40.67 per barrel, with Brent changing hands at $43.20 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