Baker Hughes reported an additional seven U.S. rigs this week, bringing the total number of active oil and gas rigs to 1.055, according to the report. The number of active oil rigs increased by 7 to reach 867 while the number of gas rigs held steady at 186. The oil and gas rig count is now 119 rigs higher that it was this time last year. At 11:37am. EDT on Friday, WTI Crude was trading up 0.13 percent at $68.68—over $1 per barrel up over this time last week, while Brent Crude was trading down 0.20 percent at $78.02—about $1.50 above last week’s levels. The mixed directions of WTI and Brent likely the cause of a perfect storm of catalysts including increasing worries that Iran’s oil exports will be curtailed beyond what OPEC and friends can offset with their own production. Other factors contributing to the volatility of oil […]