U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for 8th week on low crude prices -Baker Hughes

Oct 23 (Reuters) - U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for an
eighth week in a row this week, the longest losing streak since
June, data showed on Friday, a sign low prices continued to keep
drillers away from the well pad.
Drillers removed one oil rig in the week ended Oct. 23,
bringing the total rig count down to 594, the least since July
2010, after cutting a total of 80 rigs over the prior seven
weeks, oil services company Baker Hughes (N:BHI) Inc BHI.N said in its
closely followed report.
That total was less than half the 1,595 oil rigs in the same
week a year ago. Since hitting an all-time high of 1,609 in
October last year, weekly rig count reductions have averaged 19.
U.S. oil futures CLc1 this week have lost about 5 percent,
sliding for a second straight week, on continuing oversupply
concerns even as China's latest interest rate cut raised hopes
for stronger demand from the world's top energy consumer. O/R
The rig count is one of several indicators traders look at
in trying to figure out whether production will rise or fall
over the next several months. Other factors include how fast
energy firms complete previously drilled but unfinished wells
and rising well efficiency and productivity.
"The current rig count implies that U.S. production would
drop by 40,000 barrels a day in 2016," analysts at Goldman Sachs (N:GS)
said.
Despite drilling cutbacks, U.S. oil production edged up to
9.4 million barrels per day (bpd) in July from 9.3 million bpd
in June, according to the latest U.S. Energy Information
Administration's (EIA) 914 production report. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12027G
On a weekly basis, the amount of U.S. oil pulled out of the
ground has remained about 9.1 million bpd since the start of
September, according to EIA's weekly field production report,
well below the 9.6 million-bpd peak seen in April.