Canada added one natural gas-directed rig while the oil rig count held steady, yielding an overall Canadian count of 191 rigs running, not quite 45% of the year-ago tally.
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Crude futures dropped in Asian trading on Friday after the release of a report showing that USA economic growth had slowed sharply, reinforcing concerns about sluggish demand in a world awash with oil.
Crude oil prices are on pace to finish the week higher after two straight weeks of declines.
Energy traders noted the rate of oil rig reductions over the prior few weeks – about seven on average – was much lower than the 19 rigs cut on average over the past year since the number of rigs peaked at 1,609 in October 2014, due in part to expectations of slightly higher prices in the future.
Earlier in the week, oil prices had their highest gains in two months.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil in New York was flat, near $46 per barrel, ahead of the data. The rally was driven by sharper-than-expected falls in stockpiles of gasoline and diesel, among others, and a smaller-than-anticipated build in US crude.
In response to those higher prices, drillers added 47 rigs over the summer even though crude prices had declined to $47 a barrel on average by the time July and August rolled around.
“Looking at the bigger picture, there is still lots of oil in the United States”, PVM Oil Associates analyst Tamas Varga said.
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“Although providing fundamental rationale for a 6 percent single day advance remains challenging, we are conceding to a significant improvement in the short term chart picture and a need to lift pricing in order to attract fresh selling”, said Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch & Associates, an oil consultancy in Chicago.
