U.S. Oil Explorers Park Rigs as Sub-$20 Crude Seen Possible
- Big three U.S. plays dropped almost 100 horizontal oil rigs
- Permian led the weekly declines after letting go of 8 oil rigs
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Explorers idled more drilling rigs in U.S. oilfields this week as record supplies begin to make crude prices in the teens a real possibility.
Rigs targeting oil in the U.S. fell by 28 to 439, after more than 1,000 were idled over the past year and a half, Baker Hughes Inc. said on its website Friday. The report marks eight straight weeks of declines in the number of working rigs. Natural gas rigs were trimmed by 2 to 102, bringing the total down by 30 to 541. Since October, the big three U.S. onshore plays -- the Eagle Ford in south Texas, the Permian Basin in west Texas and the Bakken in North Dakota -- have combined to drop almost 100 oil rigs that can drill horizontally underground, according to Suntrust Robinson Humphrey.