NEW YORK, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Oil prices extended big gains on Friday, as supported by a fall in the number of active U.S. drilling rigs this week.
The West Texas Intermediate for December climbed 2.02 U.S. dollars to settle at 56.20 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude for January delivery increased 2.07 dollars to close at 61.69 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.
The number of active drilling rigs in the United States decreased by eight to 822 this week, down 245 rigs year-on-year, according to the weekly data released by Baker Hughes on Friday.
According to the Houston-based oilfield services company, these active drilling rigs included 691 oil rigs operating in the U.S. oil fields, down 5 from the previous week; 130 gas drilling rigs, down three from the previous week and the miscellaneous rigs remained at one.
