U.S. Oil-Rig Count Unchanged in Latest Week -- Baker Hughes

The number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. remained unchanged this week at 747, Baker Hughes, a GE company, reported.

The U.S. oil rig count is typically viewed as a proxy for activity in the sector. After peaking at 1,609 in October 2014, low oil prices put downward pressure on production and the rig count fell sharply. The oil-rig count has generally been rising over the past year.

The nation's gas rig count were down by 2 to 182 in the past week, according to oil-field services company Baker Hughes.

The U.S. offshore-rig count was down one from last week to 18, which is five fewer than a year ago.

Oil prices were up less than 1% at $60.37 a barrel in afternoon trading Friday.

Write to Aisha Al-Muslim at aisha.al-muslim@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 29, 2017 13:33 ET (18:33 GMT)