Oil futures settled lower on Friday, pulling back from a rally a day earlier, as Baker Hughes reported the first weekly rise in the U.S. oil drilling rig count this year.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures for April delivery fell 76 cents, or 1.9%, to settle at $39.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after topping $41 during the session. For the week, prices gained almost 7% but the April contract gained about 2.4%.
May Brent crude, the global benchmark, fell 34 cents, or 0.8%, to $41.20 a barrel, cutting its weekly gain to around 2.3%.
On Friday, Baker Hughes reported that the number of active U.S. oil rigs rose by 1 to 387, while total active domestic oil rigs fell by 4 to 476.
The increase for domestic oil rigs was the first in 13 weeks, while the total U.S. rig count marked another record low.
Prices had been back and forth between losses and gains and already touched lows under $40 before the rig data. After the rig data, prices added to losses.
April natural gas ended at $1.907 per million British thermal units, down 2.9 cents, or 1.5%, after U.S. government data on Thursday showed a smaller-than-expected weekly decline in natural gas inventories. For the week, prices were up 4.7%.
