US Oil Rig Count Inches Up

U.S. energy companies added oil rigs for a third week in a row even though crude prices have declined about 8% over the past three weeks.

Drillers added one oil rig in the week to June 8, bringing the total count to 862, the highest level since March 2015, Baker Hughes, a GE company, said in its weekly report. That was the ninth time that drillers added rigs in the past 10 weeks.

The U.S. rig count, an early indicator of future output, is much higher than a year ago when 741 rigs were active as energy companies have been ramping up production in tandem with OPEC’s efforts to cut global output in a bid to take advantage of rising prices.