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U.S. oil rig count falls by 15 to 372

Xinhua, March 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

The number of oil rigs operating in the United States fell by 15 to 372 this week, according to data released on Thursday.

The number marked the lowest total operating oil rigs since the week of Nov.13, 2009, said Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., an oil field services company.

U.S. crude pared earlier losses and was down 34 cents at 39.45 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The U.S. rig count has been falling sharply since mid-2014 when global oil prices began fluctuating due to the oil glut, before which a total of 1,609 oil rigs were operating in the country.

Baker Hughes' data showed the natural-gas rig count in the United States increased by three to 92 this week.

U.S. drillers cut an average of 22 oil and gas rigs a week for a total of 1,142 in 2015, the biggest annual decline since at least 1988. U.S. drillers have cut an average of 20 oil and gas rigs a week for a total of 222 so far this year.

Analysts forecast that the rig count will bottom in a couple months before recovering later this year when energy prices are expected to rise. Endi