BHI: Last week, U.S. drillers cut their most rig count since March

According to foreign media reports, due to the recent decline in crude oil prices that has slowed the growth rate of oil drilling in the past month or so, U.
S.
energy companies cut the largest number of
rigs in use since March this year in the week ending the 20th.

Baker Hughes Energy Services, a unit of General Electric Co.
(GE), said in a closely watched report on Friday that the total number of rigs in use in the United States fell by five to 858 in the week ending July 20
.

Statistics show that more than half of the oil rigs in use in the United States are in the Permian Basin, located in western Texas and eastern New Mexico, the largest shale oil field in the United States, and the number of oil rigs in use remained at 475 last week
.

As U.
S.
energy companies have been ramping up production this year in anticipation of higher oil prices than in previous years, the number of rigs in use in the United States, an early indicator of future production, is still higher than the 764 rigs
a year ago.

So far this year, U.
S.
crude futures have averaged $66.
03 per barrel
.
That compares to an average price of $50.
85 in 2017 compared to $
43.
47 in 2016.