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Oil rig count plunges for 7th straight week

In its monthly report for January, Baker Hughes, which provides services for the upstream oil and gas sector, said the USA rig count for January was 654, down 8.4 percent from the previous month.

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The total number of rigs seeking gas fell 17 for a new total of 104.

Crude oil ended the week lower on Friday, with West Texas Intermediate futures down 0.1% to US$30.89 a barrel. However, Baker Hughes data shows the Permian Basin only losing two rigs this time and the Barnett actually adding one.

However, with rig counts plumbing new lows, production drop offs could be just around the corner.

The total count of active rigs plunged by 48, the most since the week of March 20, 2015.

The next biggest was Oklahoma, which lost eight and now has 80 rigs left.

“Producers should continue to work through the drilled but uncompleted well backlog in 2016, keeping production above what is implied by the decline in the rig count”, Barclays analysts said in a note published Monday (Feb. 1).

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Canada’s rig count rose by 11 to 242, which is down from 381 the same week a year ago.

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