U.S. oil explorers idled the fewest rigs in seven weeks, dragging oil prices to an intraday low on speculation that crude production won’t fall fast enough to balance the market. Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. dropped by 37 to 1,019 after averaging an 87-rig loss in the previous three weeks, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. Since Dec. 5, 556 have been taken offline in an unprecedented retreat, bringing the count to the lowest level since July 2011. The unprecedented retrenchment in U.S. oil drilling underscores how deeply the global collapse in crude prices has wounded the world’s energy producers, eliminating more than 100,000 jobs internationally and shrinking capital spending this year by at least $86.4 billion. “The rig drop today was half the drop from last week, so the market might be mildly bearish on it,” James Williams, president of energy consulting company […]