The drop is a deceleration from last week, when the count fell by 13. The number of U.S. oil drilling rigs—a proxy for activity in the oil industry—has fallen sharply since prices headed south last year. There are now about 60% fewer rigs working since a peak of 1,609 in October. The market rallied earlier this year on expectations that spending cuts would help shrink the global glut of crude, but large supply cuts haven’t materialized so far. U.S. data released on Wednesday showed domestic oil production at a new weekly high, fueling concerns that the global crude market continues to be oversupplied. On Friday, OPEC said it would keep its production ceiling unchanged , the second time in six months it decided to take no action amid the global glut. According to Baker Hughes, gas rigs were down by three to 222 this week. The U.S. offshore rig […]

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