U.S. energy firms cut a surprisingly sharp 13 oil rigs this week, the first drop in seven weeks, as a renewed slump in prices this summer forced drillers to make a second round of cut-backs. The decline erases weeks of small gains and brings the total to the week ending Sept. 4 down to 662, the lowest since mid-July, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its closely followed report on Friday. “Clearly the precipitous drop in oil prices has hit capital expenditures for new drilling in the U.S. with today’s Baker Hughes rig count numbers. With prices remaining at relatively low levels without much relief in sight, we are likely going to see further declines,” said Chris Jarvis, analyst at Caprock Risk Management in Frederick, Maryland. U.S. crude’s front-month was down about 1 percent in early trading along with equities, but pared losses after the rig data, […]