US oil drillers cut rigs for 4th week

According to Reuters, US energy firms have cut oil rigs for a fourth week in a row, an act that demonstrates that continued weak crude prices are causing energy firms to reduce drilling operations.

The week ending 25 September saw the total rig count decrease to 640, which is the lowest since July. The same week during 2014 saw 1592 oil rigs. In addition, natural gas rigs decreased to 197 for the week ending 25 September.

On 25 September US crude oil prices increased but approximately 1%, but despite this, oil production has declined over the last several weeks due to the weak crude market. The US oil output was approximately 9.1 million bpd for the same week.

"The current rig count is pointing to US production declining sequentially between 2Q15 and 4Q15 by 255 000 bpd," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.

Edited by Angharad Lock

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