The US oil rig count continued its upward crawl for a third consecutive week, rising on Friday by two to 751 amid persistently higher oil prices and a growing confidence voiced by upstream operators now planning 2018 capital budgets. In addition, the Permian cracked the 400 mark for oil rigs, up by three from last week and a 63% jump from the 246 working during the same week in 2016, Baker Hughes said in its weekly North American rig count. The last time the oil rig count was 400 or greater was the week ended February 6, 2015, when 413 rigs were deployed, figures from Baker Hughes, the world’s second-largest global oilfield service provider, showed. “[We’ll see] a few more rigs added by year-end,” Evercore ISI analyst James West said. Baker Hughes uses data from S&P Global Platts RigData in calculating its own rig count. Analysts have said the […]