Coming off a rather abysmal week for oil prices, Baker Hughes reported a 9-rig increase for oil and gas in the United States this week—a turnaround from three losses in a row in the three weeks prior. The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs now stands at 1,080 according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs increasing by 10 to reach 883 and the number of gas rigs decreasing by 1 to 197. The oil and gas rig count is now 149 up from this time last year, 136 of which is in oil rigs. Crude oil prices ticked slightly upward on Friday, with the week’s earlier price slide arrested as OPEC offered up new details about its production cut plans for the new year. It was not enough to lift prices, rather just enough to stop the dramatic slide. The WTI benchmark […]