The number of active oil and gas rigs in the United States rose again this week, this time by 12, resuming what was the US shale patch’s impressive run of 23 weeks of steady gains, prior to last week’s decrease of a single rig. The number of oil rigs in operation increased by 7, while gas rigs increased by five—putting to rest any lingering optimism that last week’s decrease in rigs was a sign of an upcoming downward trend in the number of active rigs. Combined, the total oil and gas rig count in the US now stands at 952 rigs, which is 512 rigs over a year ago today. Prices were down earlier on Friday—with WTI trading down 2.81% on the day at $44.24. Brent was down 2.85% at $46.74 at 12:17pm EST. While US crude oil inventories are in the “upper half of the average range for […]