03:42 PM EDT, 05/02/2025 (MT Newswires) -- The number of oil rigs in the US decreased by four in the week through Friday, according to data compiled by energy services company Baker Hughes ( BKR ) .

The count for oil fell to 479 from last Friday's 483 tally, while gas added two rigs to 101. Miscellaneous rigs decreased by one to four. The US had 499 oil, 102 gas and four miscellaneous rigs in operation a year earlier, the data showed.

A total of 584 rigs were operating in the US as of Friday, compared with the previous week's tally of 587 and last year's 605.

Among US states, Ohio and Texas each lost three rigs, while Louisiana added three.

Across North America, the oil and gas rigs count fell by 11 on a weekly basis to 704, with Canada's tally dropping by eight to 120.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 1.8% at $58.18 a barrel in Friday afternoon trading, while Brent fell 1.5% to $61.18 a barrel. Both measures are on course for weekly declines of more than 7% each.

Eight members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies would meet on Saturday to finalize whether to accelerate an oil output increase for June, Reuters reported, citing sources. The meeting was originally planned for Monday.

"Oil prices dropped as traders adjusted positions ahead of an upcoming OPEC+ meeting," D.A. Davidson said.

The cartel in April surprised the market by disclosing a plan to increase supply by more than expected in May.

"The OPEC+ supply increase for June is likely to be very measured and opportunistic, eyeing the summer surge in seasonal crude demand," said Mukesh Sahdev, global head oil commodity markets at Rystad Energy. "If the group wants to test the market with a higher than anticipated increase, the time is now. Summer fundamentals are constructive; however beyond June-July, this changes."

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