Oil prices were up early on Monday, steadying at a two-month high last seen in mid-November, as the plunging U.S. rig count last week signaled a slowdown in shale drilling amid the lower price of oil. At 10:34 EST on Monday, WTI Crude was up 0.44 percent at $54.28, while Brent Crude was up 0.38 percent at $62.94. On Friday, oil prices surged as Baker Hughes reported a drastic reduction to the number of active oil and gas in the United States in the week. The total number of active oil and gas drilling rigs fell by 25 rigs, according to the report, with the number of active oil rigs decreasing by 21 to reach 852 and the number of gas rigs decreasing by 4 to reach 198. The oil and gas rig count is now 114 up from this time last year, 105 of which is in oil […]