US oil rig count rises for a 6th straight week

The number of oil rigs in use in the US rose for the sixth-straight week this week, increasing 1 to 675.

This is still down from a peak of 1,609 in October 2014, though the decline in oil rig count has stabilized and has actually increased in 8 of the last 9 weeks.

The price of oil, however, still remains highly volatile.

On Friday, West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices were up as much as 7% after a 10% rally on Thursday. These moves, however, followed an early week crash that sent oil to fresh post-financial crisis lows.

Here's the latest chart of the rig count.

Oil rigs 8 28 15

(Business Insider, data via Baker Hughes)

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