03:41 PM EDT, 07/05/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The number of oil rigs in the US held steady at 479 for the week ended July 5, according to data compiled by energy services company Baker Hughes ( BKR ) .

The tally for gas rose by four to 101, while miscellaneous rigs were unchanged at five. A year earlier, the US had 540 oil, 135 gas and five miscellaneous rigs in operation, company data showed.

Overall, 585 rigs were operating in the US this week, down from 680 a year earlier. Among US states, top producer Texas added one rig to 278, while the count in Louisiana rose by three.

Across North America, oil-and-gas equipment increased by three on a weekly basis to 760, compared with 855 at the same point last year. The count in Canada fell by one to 175 rigs, with oil and miscellaneous down by one rig each, while gas gained by one.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil and Brent were down less than 1% each in Friday late-afternoon trade, but both were on course to register fourth straight weekly gains.

"Oil remains bid trading at the highest levels since April as positive economic growth drivers and tighter supply are underpinning higher oil prices," Saxo Bank said in a Friday note. "Crude oil and especially the fuel products trade higher as Hurricane Beryl raises concerns of a supercharged storm season disrupting production and flow of crude and fuel products to and from the Gulf of Mexico."

Beryl, downgraded to a tropical storm, made landfall along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning, according to AccuWeather. Beryl was expected to make landfall near the Texas and Mexico border Sunday evening or early Monday.

Government data showed Wednesday that commercial crude stockpiles in the US dropped by 12.2 million barrels to 448.5 million barrels through the week ended June 28. The consensus estimate on Bloomberg was for a draw of 550,000 barrels.