Energy
US Oil Rig Count Added 6 Last Week, Sending Crude Price Lower
Published:
Last Updated:
In the week ended August 7, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States totaled 670, compared with 664 in the prior week and 1,588 a year ago. Including 214 other rigs mostly drilling for natural gas, there are a total of 884 working rigs in the country, up by 10 week over week but down 1,024 year over year. The data come from the latest Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) North American Rotary Rig Count.
When Baker Hughes released the numbers on Friday afternoon, the predictable drop in the price of crude followed quickly. For the week, crude oil lost nearly 7% and benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for September delivery dropped more than 90 cents to close at $43.87, the lowest closing price since mid-March. There is nothing to stop the slide to $40 a barrel or perhaps lower. Several major data points are coming out next week, and if the data continue to indicate no significant slowdown in supply, then crude oil prices could decline sharply again.
U.S. refineries were running at just over 96% of capacity last week, a 10-year high, with daily input of about 17.1 million barrels a day, 313,000 barrels a day more than the previous week. Imports dropped sharply last week to around 7.2 million barrels a day, about 365,000 barrels a day less than the prior week.
ALSO READ: 8 Large Companies Valued Under 10 Times Earnings
The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States is down by 918 year over year, but they rose by six, week over week. The natural gas rig count increased by four to a total of 209. The count for natural gas rigs is down by 103 year over year.
Gasoline stockpiles increased by 800,000 barrels last week.
Hedge funds — under the Managed Money heading in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commitments of Traders report — added to their long positions last week by 5,118 contracts and reduced their short positions by 4,388 contracts. The movement reflects changes as of the August 4 settlement date. Managed money holds 251,136 long positions, compared with 135,164 short positions. The funds have put an end to three consecutive weeks of adding short positions.
Among the producers themselves, short positions outnumber longs, 343,269 to 220,419. The number of short positions last week rose by 11,339 contracts and longs added 14,021 positions. Positions among swaps dealers show 318,368 shorts versus 198,930 longs. Swaps dealers cut 10,972 contracts from their long positions last week and eliminated 9,610 short contracts.
Among the states, Pennsylvania lost three rigs last week, Colorado lost two and Ohio lost one. Texas added eight rigs, Louisiana added four, Kansas added three and West Virginia added two. California and North Dakota each added one. The numbers were unchanged in Alaska, Arkansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
In the Permian Basin of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, the rig count rose by six to 254. The Eagle Ford Basin in south Texas remained unchanged with a count of 98, and the Williston Basin (Bakken) in North Dakota and Montana now has 72 working rigs, up one from the prior week.
Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) lists a posted price of $40.32 per barrel for WTI and an August 8 price of $33.33 a barrel for North Dakota Light Sweet. The posted price for a barrel of Eagle Ford crude is $40.28. All prices are around $3 a barrel lower than they were a week ago and have dropped by about $10 a barrel in the past month.
ALSO READ: 3 Top Energy MLPs to Buy That Need No Capital Raise
The pump price of gasoline decreased week over week. Saturday morning’s average price in the United States was $2.616 a gallon, down about 1.8% from $2.665 a week ago.
Robinhood set out to democratize investing to individuals, and it’s not slowing down. The app makes it possible to buy and sell stocks, mutual funds, trade options, and even cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
With FDIC insurance ,an award winning design, and benefits like IRAs and more, Robinhood could be your path to a richer tomorrow.
Sign up today — click here to start your journey.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.