Over the past two and a half months, the U.S. active oil and gas combined rig count has been consistently — well — inconsistent.
Dipping by four last week, Friday's count provided by oilfield services provider Baker Hughes can't seem to gain any positive traction. The count bottomed out at 404 in May of 2016 and then rose nearly every week for the next 14 months. It seemed destined to reach 1,000, but peaked at 958 this past July 28. It fell for the next four weeks to 940 on Aug. 25 and has been up-and-down since, checking in at 936 in last week's count.
Friday's count was up by 78.6 percent year-over-year — a figure that has steadily declined over the past 10 weeks. Oil rigs comprised 79.9 percent of the latest total.
Last week's oil rig count dipped by two to a mark of 748, which is up by 74.8 percent year-over-year. The U.S. lost two gas rigs as well, with its count falling to 187 and up 98.9 percent year-over-year.
The U.S. miscellaneous rig count remained at zero.
Of last week's combined rig count, Oklahoma gained three and Colorado gained one. Texas lost three, Pennsylvania and Wyoming each lost a pair and Louisiana lost one.
Canada/North America
Canada's combined rig count fell by four this past week, losing one oil rig and three gas rigs. The country's total rig count decreased to 209, which is up 26.7 percent year-over-year, with its 112 oil rigs up by 25 and its 97 gas rigs up by 19.
Friday's North American combined rig count of 1,145 was down by eight from a week earlier. It is up by 456 year-over-year, or 66.2 percent.
Oil Price Update
After reaching a more than five-month-high of $52.22 on Sept. 25, the price of WTI crude oil has been subdued over the past two weeks, falling back under $50 by the close of this past Friday. Oil opened last Monday (Oct. 2) at $51.52 and closed the day more than a dollar lower at $50.45. It dipped to $49.99 on Tuesday before recovering to $50.61 during Wednesday and eventually peaked at $50.99 late Thursday morning. But it fell sharply late Friday afternoon, closing the week at $49.23. Oil opened Monday at $49.47 closed the day at $49.65. It opened Tuesday at $49.64 and had risen to $50.21 as of 8:15 a.m.
