Baker Hughes reported a 1-rig increase for oil and gas in the United States this week—a far more tempered figure after last week’s 14-rig increase. The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs to 1,082 according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs increasing by 2 to reach 888 and the number of gas rigs falling by 1 to reach 194. The oil and gas rig count is now 167 up from this time last year. Crude oil prices picked up earlier in the trading day as data showed that Saudi Arabia has been slashing oil exports to the United States in an effort to lessen transparent stockpiles here in the States. The WTI benchmark was trading up 1.09% (+0.62) at $57.30 at 11:39 am EST, with Brent trading up 1.10% (+0.73) at $67.35. Both benchmarks are dollars below this time last week Earlier […]