HOUSTON (AP) — The number of rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in Oklahoma has dropped by ten this week. That's according to Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes weekly rig count released on Friday.
West Texas Intermediate Crude priced at Oklahoma's pipeline hub closed the week Friday up nearly 1 ½ percent to $106.47 a barrel, one day after President Barack Obama's visit to Cushing, Oklahoma. Obama gave a speech on Thursday announcing an executive order in support of a 485-mile-long pipeline from Cushing to Texas' Gulf Coast refineries. Obama called the amount of Canadian and Bakken crude accumulating at Cushing's storage hubs a 'bottleneck' that needed to be opened.
Baker Hughes' rig count for Texas dropped by eleven rigs this week, while the tally for Arkansas remained unchanged.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.