Oil rig count falls for 8th straight week (USO, WTI, OIL, VDE)

The US oil rig count plunged by 28 to 439 this week, according to driller Baker Hughes.

It's the lowest count since the week of January 22, 2010.

The combined count of oil and gas rigs fell by 30 to 514.

Last week, the oil rig count fell by 31, marking the biggest weekly drop since April 2015.The combined count fell 48.

Crude oil prices were rallying strong on Friday, with West Texas Intermediate crude futures in New York up as much as 12% to as high as $29.96 per barrel. Earlier this week, they fell to a fresh 12-year low.

The rig count drop doesn't do enough to cancel out the mountains of US and global oil inventories. Earlier this week, the International Energy Agency forecast that the imbalance of supply and demand would get even worse. 

Here's the latest rig-count chart:

Andy Kiersz/Business Insider

 

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