USA rig count declines by 29 this week to 809

The latest update on United States oil drillers in use from Baker Hughes is set for release near the top of the hour.

The reduction in the week ended October 2 brought the total rig count down to 614, the least since August, 2010.

Here’s last week’s chart of the rig count, which collapsed over the past year as the price of oil crashed, and this will be updated as soon as the numbers cross.

US energy companies this week cut the number of rigs drilling for oil by 26, a weekly survey by oil services company Baker Hughes showed.

Ahead of the report, crude oil prices were little changed, sitting at around $44.50 a barrel in New York. They have erased the 47 oil rigs energy firms added in July and August. This week, US oil averaged $45 a barrel, the same as during the month of September, on continued worries about lackluster global demand and oversupply. Likewise, falling crude oil prices will put pressure on crude oil producers. Natural gas rigs were trimmed 2 to 195 and miscellaneous rigs slipped by 1 to zero, bringing the total down 29 by 809, the fewest since May 2002.

Drillers reduced the number of oil wells in all the major USA shale basins this week.

Recently, though, the relationship between USA production and the number of active rigs has grown more complex, as drillers have managed to keep production high despite a massive falloff in the rig count.

The horizontal drill count posted a huge 11 rig slide and fell to 629 rigs, or just under half of the 1,347 horizontal rigs drilling a year ago.

This article was from Reuters and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.