UPDATE 1-U.S. oil drillers cut rigs for 13th week in 14 -Baker Hughes

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Dec 4 (Reuters) - U.S. energy firms this week cut oil rigs
for the 13th week in the last 14, data showed on Friday, a sign
drillers were still waiting for higher prices before returning
to the well pad.
On Friday, OPEC decided to keep production near record highs
despite depressed prices, as a way to boost market share by
forcing rivals to reduce output.
Drillers removed 10 oil rigs in the week ended Dec. 4,
bringing the total rig count down to 545, the least since June
2010, oil services company Baker Hughes (N:BHI) Inc BHI.N said in its
closely followed report.
That decrease brings the total rig count down to about a
third of the 1,575 oil rigs operating in same week a year ago.
Since the end of the summer, drillers have cut 120 oil rigs.
U.S. oil futures CLc1 averaged $41 a barrel so far this
week, down from $42 last week.
U.S. futures fell below $40 after OPEC decided to maintain
its production level. O/R
Energy traders noted the rate of weekly oil rig reductions
since the start of September, about nine on average, was much
lower than the 18 rigs cut on average since the rig count peaked
at 1,609 in October 2014, due in part to expectations of
slightly higher prices in the future.
U.S. crude futures for next year were trading around $44 a
barrel, down from $47 last week, according to the full year 2016
calendar strip CLYstc1 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Higher prices encourage drillers to add rigs. The most
recent time crude prices were much higher than now was in May
and June, when U.S. futures averaged $60 a barrel.
In response to those higher prices, drillers added 47 rigs
over the summer.
Drillers cut rigs in three of the four major U.S. shale oil
basins this week. They removed five rigs in the Permian in West
Texas and eastern New Mexico; two in the Bakken in North Dakota
and Montana; and one in the Niobrara in Colorado and Wyoming.
The number of rigs in the Eagle Ford in South Texas remained
unchanged.
Despite an increase of three natural gas rigs this week, the
removal of 10 oil rigs knocked the nation's total rig count down
to a 16-year low.
The rig count is one of several indicators traders look at
to predict whether production will rise or fall in future
months.