HOUSTON, June 23 (Xinhua) -- The number of active drilling rigs in the United States fell by seven this week to 1,052, but still 111 more than that this time last year, according to the weekly data collected by Baker Hughes released Friday.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreement sent oil prices soaring on Friday.
Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported that the number of oil rigs operating in the United States fell by one while those seeking natural gas dropped by six, driving the overall rig count down to 1,052, compared to 941 a year ago.
The Permian Basin region of West Texas and New Mexico dominates drilling activity with 474 oil rigs, compared to 369 a year ago, accounting for more than half the 862 oil drilling rigs operating in the country.
Canada, for its part, gained 21 oil rigs for the week, but still down by 10 year on year.
During the week, the prices of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent increased 4.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. On Friday, the WTI, the U.S. benchmark of crude oil prices, for August delivery rose 3.04 U.S. dollars to settle at 68.58 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for August delivery was up 2.50 dollars to close at 75.55 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
OPEC issued a communique on Friday which was interpreted as announcement of encouraging producers to boost production.
Meanwhile, the latest data showed that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories, excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, decreased by 5.9 million barrels during the week ending June 15.
At 426.5 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories were about 2 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total motor gasoline inventories increased by 3.3 million barrels last week and were about 6 percent above the five-year range. Finished gasoline and blending components inventories both increased last week.
Distillate fuel inventories increased by 2.7 million barrels last week and were about 14 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.
Total products supplied over the last four-week period averaged 20.3 million barrels per day, up 0.9 percent from the same period last year.
Over the past four weeks, motor gasoline product supplied averaged 9.5 million barrels per day, down 0.9 percent from the same period last year.
Distillate fuel product supplied averaged 4.0 million barrels per day more than the past four weeks, up 2.0 percent from the same period last year. Jet fuel product supplied was down 2.1 percent compared with the same four-week period last year.
