Drillers added rigs in U.S. oilfields for the seventh time in the past eight weeks as declining crude prices fail to hold activity back.

Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. rose by 2 to 674, Baker Hughes Inc. said by e-mail Friday. They also climbed by 2 last week. The number of natural gas rigs was unchanged at 211 and the only miscellaneous rig went offline, bringing the total up by 1 to 885.

America’s oil drillers have sidelined more than half the country’s rigs since October as the world’s largest suppliers battle for market share. The crude being pumped out of U.S. shale formations helped create a global glut that has pushed prices down 60% since June of last year.

Oil could fall to lows last seen during the global financial crisis amid a persistent supply surplus, Citigroup Inc. said on Aug. 19.

“Balances point to further oversupply throughout 2015, begging the question how low can oil go?” Citigroup analysts led by Seth Kleinman said in a report. The U.S. crude price of $32.40/bbl reached in 2008 “is a conceivable reality.”

Oil moved into a bear market in July, and the biggest producers are preparing for an extended downturn.

Traders have been tracking the rig counts as they try to determine when U.S. oil production will fall enough to support higher prices. The use of new technology that helps drillers pump more with less rigs has made that task more difficult.

Crude output in the U.S. dropped by 47,000 bpd to 9.35 million last week, but remains almost 70% higher than four years ago, EIA data show.

Source: www.worldoil.com

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