US energy firms cut 26 oil rigs in the latest week, the biggest reduction since April and the fifth straight weekly decline, a sign that low prices are pushing drillers away from the well pad. The cutback for the week ended Oct. 2 brought the total rig count down to 614, the least since August, 2010. In the previous four weeks, drillers cut a total of 35 rigs, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said. US crude prices rose 1.5% in the minutes after the announcement, Reuters reported. The latest rig count is less than half the 1,591 oil rigs in the same week a year ago and also far below the all-time high of 1,609 in October 2014. They have erased the 47 oil rigs energy firms added in July and August. The summertime additions came when US crude was priced around $60 a barrel. Baker Hughes also reported a reduction in natural gas rigs, bringing total US rigs to a 13-year low. Natural gas rigs were down also this week to 195, the lowest level in at least 28 years.
