Friday, June 10, 2016

"Crude Slumps As Active Oil Rigs Rise For Second Week In A Row"

We don't put a lot of stock in the Friday moves when the rig count comes out but in this case we may be seeing a reversal of the long established downtrend. The number of active rigs is really low.
From Barron's Focus on Funds:
So much for $50 a barrel.

Crude took a leg lower in early afternoon trading after a weekly reading on the number of active U.S. oil rigs increased. Oilfield services company Baker Hughes’ (BHI) most recent tally of weekly active drilling rigs showed an increase of six rigs to 414. Active oil rigs rose by 3 to 322, only the third weekly rise of this year (and second in a row). Over the past year, the number of oil rigs is down, but the prospect of greater supply tends to weigh on prices.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S. benchmark, fell 2.9% to $49.08 in recent trading; prices were at about $49.33 immediately before the 1:00 p.m. Eastern data release....MORE
Still at $49.08, down $1.48 on big volume. And from ZeroHedge:

Oil Gives Up Post-Payrolls Gains As Rig Count Rises For 2nd Straight Week
Following last week'sunexpected rise in US oil rigs - and the biggest increase in US Crude production since the first week of January - the lagged price of oil suggested that rig counts would continue to rise this week, and it did - up 3 to 328. Oil prices had dropped from over $51.50 to almost $49 - erasing the post-payrolls gains- ahead of the rig count data and were relatively unimpressed by the print.

Production rose last week for the first time in 18 weeks and by the most since Jan 1st:

...MORE