The U.S. added another 17 active oil rigs last week, according to the weekly rotary rig count released Friday by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes.
That follows gains of 15 and 29 rigs the previous two weeks — meaning the U.S. has added 61 rigs over the past three weeks.
Friday's oil rig count showed a figure of 583, which is up 116 (24.8 percent) from a year earlier and up 84.5 percent since bottoming out at 316 in May 2016. The current figure is still well short of when it was consistently around 1,500 in 2014, but has grown steadily for more than 2 years.
U.S. oil rigs have increased by 106 since the OPEC agreement was announced on November 30.
The active U.S. gas rig count remained the same, checking in with a count of 145. That snapped a 12-week streak of consecutive gains. Its count was 41 ahead of a year earlier, or 43.7 percent. Miscellaneous rigs were unchanged at one.
Friday's combined U.S. active rig count of 729 was up 158 year-over-year, or 27.7 percent, and up 80.4 percent since bottoming out at 404 in May 2016.
Oklahoma led the rig gains by adding six last week, New Mexico and Texas each added four, while Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado and Wyoming added one apiece. Louisiana lost one.
Canada lost two total rigs last week, losing three oil and adding one gas. Its combined count of 345 was up 101 year-over-year, or 41.7 percent, with its 197 oil rigs up by 66 and gas rigs up by 35.
Friday's combined North American rig count of 1,072 was up 259 year-over-year, or 31,9 percent.
Oil Price Update
U.S. Brent crude oil prices increased slightly throughout last week, closing Jan. 30 at $55.32 per barrel and ending Friday at $56.81. Oil was at $56.56 as of 9:25 CT Monday morning.
Oil has closed at between $52.50 and $56.81 since Dec. 1, showing signs of steadiness over the last nine weeks.
