Baker Hughes Data Show a Sizeable Weekly Climb In U.S. Oil-rig Count

Data from Baker Hughes Friday revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil rose by 21 to 652 rigs this week. The oil rig count has climbed every week this year so far, except for one. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes oil and natural-gas rigs, also jumped higher by 20 to 809, according to Baker Hughes. May West Texas Intermediate crude was up 9 cents, or 0.2%, at $47.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange for the session, trading near the $47.81 it traded at before the data.