Oil futures continued to trade lower after data from Baker Hughes showed that the number of active U.S. oil-drilling rigs fell by 6 to 572 as of Friday. The total active U.S. rig count, which includes natural-gas rigs, was down 4 at 771. Compared to last year, the total rig count has fallen by 1,154, with the oil rig count down 996. December crude was at $44.48 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 72 cents, or 1.6%. It was trading at $44.52 just before the data.
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