The US oil and gas rig count fell sharply on Friday, decreasing by 19 for the week, according to Baker Hughes. The total oil and gas rig count now stands at 916, or 128 down from this time last year. US production, however, is holding fast at 12.3 million bpd.
The total number of active oil rigs in the United States decreased by 16 according to the report, reaching 754. The number of active gas rigs decreased by 3 to reach 162.
Oil rigs have seen a loss of 106 rigs year on year, with gas rigs down 20 since this time last year. The combined oil and gas rig count is down solidly in triple-digit territory, at 128 year on year.
Year-to-date, the oil rig count has fallen from 858 active rigs since the beginning of the year to 754, while gas rigs have fallen from 187 to 162 during that same time.
Oil prices were trading up slightly on Friday ahead of the data.
At 11:37 am EST today WTI was down $1.48 (-2.67%) at $53.87-not quite $1 lower than this time last week. The Brent benchmark was also down on the day, by $1.02 (-1.70%) at $58.90-up roughly $0.40 week on week.
US production held fast at an average of 12.3 million bpd for week ending August 16, for the third week running, which is just 100,000 bpd off the all-time high.
Canada's overall rig count fell too this week. Oil and gas rigs fell by 3, after last week's 2-rig increase. Oil and gas rigs in Canada are still down 90 year on year. Canada's oil rigs are down 58 year on year, with gas rigs down 32 year on year.
WTI was trading down 3.54% shortly after data release, while Brent was trading down 2.30%.
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