The number of oil rigs in the US increased by two for the week ended Friday, as revealed by data compiled by energy services company Baker Hughes. The tally for oil rose to 481 from 479 on a weekly basis, while gas lost one rig to a total of 101. Miscellaneous rigs remained unchanged at four. A year earlier, the US had 501 oil rigs, 117 gas rigs, and four miscellaneous rigs in operation, according to the company's data.
Overall, 586 rigs were operating in the US this week, down from 622 a year earlier. Among US states, the leading producer Texas added six rigs for a total of 285, while Louisiana, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania each lost two rigs. Across North America, the oil-and-gas rig count decreased by three on a weekly basis to a total of 805, compared with 815 at the same point last year.
In Canada, the count dropped by four to 219 rigs, mostly due to declines in oil and miscellaneous rigs. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 0.5% at $75.47 a barrel in Friday late-afternoon trade, while Brent fell 0.6% to $78.96 a barrel. Both benchmarks were on track for consecutive weekly gains.
In a geopolitical context, Iran recently conducted a missile attack on Israel in response to the latter's killing of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian commander in Lebanon. The market is closely monitoring any potential reprisal actions by Israel. ING highlighted in a report published Friday that 'while the US and other Gulf nations have been encouraging Israel not to target Iran's oil infrastructure, this possibility should not be dismissed completely.' Furthermore, on Wednesday, data from the Energy Information Administration revealed that commercial crude stockpiles in the US rose more than anticipated over the last week..