Drillers added 10 oil rigs in the week to Dec. 21, bringing the total count to 883, General Electric Co’s (GE.N) Baker Hughes energy services firm said in its closely followed report on Friday. This was the biggest gain in rig numbers since early November.
The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is higher than a year ago when 747 rigs were active as energy companies have spent more to capture higher prices.
Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of U.S. and Canadian drilling activity. Hughes initiated the monthly international rig count in 1975. The North American rig count is released weekly at noon central time on the last day of the work week. The international rig count is released on the fifth working day of each month.
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