US rig count continues to fall as oil prices drop
On Friday, Baker Hughes released its weekly rig count, showing the number of rigs looking for oil or natural gas in the United States has dropped by seven to 737.
The number of oil rigs dropped 10 to 545 and the number of natural gas rigs rose from 189 to 192.
This time last year, the US rig count showed 1575 rigs exploring for oil or natural gas.
Oklahoma and Wyoming gained two rigs last week while Alaska, Arkansas, California, Kansas, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia showed no gains or losses. Colorado and Utah were both down one rig. North Dakota lost two rigs and Texas was down by three. Louisiana lost four rigs, the most significant decline, state-wise, this past week.
Currently, Texas has the most rigs working at 336.
In Canada, there 77 oil rigs working, down four from last week and 100 gas rigs operational, three fewer than the week previous.
Also on Friday, the price of oil declined as OPEC announced its member nations will continue to produce crude at current high levels in order to maintain its market share. With Iran and Iraq coming back online with full production, the global supply of oil is expected increase.
The price of oil is trading near six-year lows as increased production and slumping demands have increased global stockpiles.