(Reuters) – U.S. energy companies this week cut oil rigs for a second time in the past three weeks as the rate of growth has slowed over the past couple of months with recent declines in crude prices. Drillers cut two oil rigs in the week to Aug. 3, bringing the total count down to 859, General Electric Co’s Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. More than half the total oil rigs are in the Permian basin in west Texas and eastern New Mexico, the nation’s biggest shale oil field. Active units there held steady at 479 for a second week in a row, the same as in early June and the highest since January 2015. The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is higher than a year ago when 765 rigs were active as energy companies have been […]