The active U.S. rig count's overall sluggish performance this summer continued last week, falling by 13 to match a 17-week low while the price of oil had a healthy climb.
The U.S. lost 13 total rigs last week, moving its count to 1,044 — up 104 year-over-year (YoY), or 11.1 percent. It follows a hold in the week before and a 13-rig gain before that, and ties Aug. 3's count as the lowest since May 4 (1,032). The current rig count is up 114 year-to-date through 34 weeks of 2018, which has included 22 gains, 10 decreases and two holds. The count has fallen by 18 since a peak of 1,062 on June 8.
Data from oilfield services provider Baker Hughes shows the U.S. lost nine oil rigs last week and lost four gas rigs, with its 860 gas rigs now up 101 YoY (+13.3 percent) and its 182 gas rigs up by two (+1.1 percent). The U.S. miscellaneous rig count remained at two.
Of last week's combined rig count, the only state to add rigs was Texas, which gained three. Louisiana lost seven and North Dakota lost four, while Alaska, California, New Mexico, Ohio and Pennsylvania each lost one.
Below is the daily U.S. rig count provided by Drillinginfo on its DailyRigcount.com:
Canada/North America
Canada added 17 rigs last week, moving its count to 229 — up 12 YoY (+5.5 percent) and its highest since March 9 of this year (273). The previous high was 223 on Aug. 9. Canada added 12 oil rigs and five gas rigs, with its 153 oil rigs now up by 38 YoY, and its 76 gas rigs down by 26.
Friday's North American combined rig count of 1273 rose by four and was up by 116 YoY, or 10.0 percent.
Oil Price Update
Most of August has been rough for WTI Crude oil prices, but the month final one-third is looking strong. Oil fell to a four-month low of $64.52 during the week of Aug. 13-20, but had a strong recovery throughout last week — gaining nearly $4 by Friday's close. Oil opened Monday, Aug. 20 at $64.93, closed Tuesday almost a dollar higher and then jumped $2 on Wednesday, closing that day at $67.86. After negligible movement Thursday, oil jumped to as high as $69.23 Friday morning before settling back down to close the work week at $68.72. Oil opened Monday, Aug. 27 at $68.74 and was at $68.83 as of 8:58 a.m. CT.
