(Adds total natural gas and oil rig count)
April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for a
fourth week in a row to the lowest level since November 2009,
oil services company Baker Hughes Inc BHI.N said on Friday, as
energy firms keep slashing spending despite a more than 50
percent jump in crude futures since hitting a near 13-year low
in February.
Drillers cut 3 oil rigs in the week to April 15, bringing
the total rig count down to 351, Baker Hughes said in its
closely followed report. RIG-OL-USA-BHI
The number of U.S. oil rigs operating compares with the 734
rigs operating in the same week a year ago. In 2015, drillers
cut on average 18 oil rigs per week for a total of 963 for the
year, the biggest annual decline since at least 1988 amid the
deepest rout in crude prices in a generation.
Before this week, drillers cut on average 13 oil rigs per
week for a total of 182 so far this year.
Energy firms have sharply reduced oil and natural gas
drilling since the selloff in crude markets began in mid-2014.
U.S. crude futures CLc1 collapsed from over $107 a barrel in
June 2014 to around $26 in February.
But with U.S. crude futures this week trading around $40 a
barrel, up over 50 percent from the February low on talk of a
possible OPEC production freeze, some analysts think the rig
count will bottom soon and rise later this year and next as
prices increase. O/R
U.S. crude futures were fetching around $43 a barrel for the
balance of 2016 CLBALst and about $45 for calendar 2017
CLYstc1 .
U.S. oil and gas exploration and production firm Pioneer
Natural Resources Co PXD.N , the most active oil producer in
the Permian basin in Texas with 12 rigs in the play, this week
said it will add 5 to 10 rigs if oil prices return to $50 a
barrel, which it expects by the end of 2016 or early 2017.
Analysts at Cowen & Co, a U.S. financial services firm, this
week estimated the number of active U.S. gas and oil rigs would
slide from an average 559 in the first quarter to 411 in the
second quarter and 401 in the third quarter before rising to 415
in the fourth quarter.
With the decline in oil rigs this week and no change in
natural gas rigs RIG-GS-USA-BHI , total U.S. oil and gas rigs
fell for a 17th week in a row, down three to 440, the lowest
since at least 1940, according to Baker Hughes data going back
that far.
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Graphic on U.S. rig counts http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/rigcount/index.html
U.S. natural gas rig count versus futures price http://link.reuters.com/nuz86t
Thomson Reuters Analytics natural gas data reuters://screen/verb=Open/URL=cpurl://pointcarbon.cp./trading/gmtna/
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