Energy

Oil Rig Count Down by 6, Hedge Funds Shedding Short Contracts

Paul Ausick

Published: March 12, 2016 9:35 am

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 12:02 pm

In the week ended March 11, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the United States totaled 386, compared with 392 in the prior week and 866 a year ago. Including 94 other rigs drilling for natural gas, there are a total of 480 working rigs in the country, down nine week over week and down 645 year over year. The data come from the latest Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) North American Rotary Rig Count released on Friday.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for April delivery traded up about 1.7% on Friday to settle at $38.49, a rise of nearly 7.2% for the week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported last Wednesday that crude supplies had increased by 3.9 million barrels in the week ended March 4 and that gasoline supplies had fallen by 4.5 million barrels.

In its monthly Oil Market Report for March, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that February’s global crude oil production declined by 180,000 barrels a day compared with February 2014 supply and averaged 96.5 million barrels a day. The decline is 10% smaller than the January decline and the total daily supply was unchanged.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported earlier last week that shale oil production is expected to fall another 106,000 barrels per day in April, and for 2016 the agency is forecasting average U.S. production of 8.7 million barrels a day, down from an estimated 9.4 million barrels a day in 2015.

24/7 Wall St.
US Oil Production Plunges: 3 Companies That Should Be Profitable This Year