The U.S. active oil and gas combined rig count continued its slide last week, while the price of oil reached its highest point Monday since mid-April.
Friday's combined rig count provided by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes showed a current mark of 928 — down eight from a week earlier to its lowest total since June 9 (927) of this year. The count has declined by 30 since peaking at 958 on July 28 — back when it seemed destined to hit 1,000 after increasing nearly every week for 14 months after bottoming out at 404 in May of 2016.
Friday's count was up by 72.2 percent year-over-year — a figure that has steadily declined sharply over the past 11 weeks. Oil rigs comprised 80.1 percent of the latest total.
Last week's oil rig count dipped by five to a mark of 743, also its lowest mark since June 9. The U.S. lost two gas rigs as well, with its count falling to 185 and up 76.2 percent year-over-year.
The U.S. miscellaneous rig count fell by one to zero.
Of last week's combined rig count, Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota and Pennsylvania each gained one. Texas lost four, Oklahoma lost three and California lost a pair, while Louisiana and West Virginia lost one apiece.
Canada/North America
Canada's combined rig count increased by three this past week, all from gas rig additions. The country's total rig count increased to 212, which is up 28.5 percent year-over-year, with its 112 oil rigs up by 22 and its 100 gas rigs up by 25.
Friday's North American combined rig count of 1,140 was down by five from a week earlier. It is up by 436 year-over-year, or 61.9 percent.
Oil Price Update
The price of WTI Crude oil has an overall climb throughout last week, and hit a six-month high on Monday morning. Oil opened last Monday (10/9) at $49.47 and gained more than a dollar Tuesday to close that day at $51.09. It held steady through Thursday morning before falling to a low of $50.27 that day. It rallied to $50.94 by the end of Thursday and climbed throughout Friday to close the week at $51.39. The price climbed over the weekend and opened Monday at $51.88. It climbed to $52.37 early Monday — its highest mark since April 18 ($52.85) and was at $52.06 as of 9:28 a.m. CT.
