Explorers boost oil rigs as shale patch preaches moderation

Oil saga: Refinery workers walk inside the Lyondell Basell oil refinery in Houston, Texas. Shale drillers have added 100 rigs since Seotember in the US. – Reuters

HOUSTON: Oil explorers closed out 2016 by adding drilling rigs for a ninth-straight week, capping the biggest quarterly increase in almost three years as they look ahead to a new year of steady growth.

Rigs targeting crude in the US rose by 2 to 525, according to Baker Hughes Inc data reported Friday. After two years of declines, rigs hit bottom in May at 316. Shale drillers have added 100 rigs since September, the most since the boom times of first-quarter 2014. None of the four largest US basins dropped any oil rigs this week.