Oil futures prices rose to near $98 a barrel Tuesday November 22, 2011 as traders looked to the latest U.S. crude supply reports for signs demand may be improving.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was up $1.41 at $98.33 a barrel by early afternoon in Europe in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 75 cents to settle at $96.92 in New York on Monday.

Brent crude for January delivery was up $1.34 at $108.22 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London. Read more »

The number of U.S. drilling rigs fell by 15 this week, to 2,001, according to Houston-based oil field services firm Baker Hughes.

Oil rigs declined by eight, to 1,125, and natural gas rigs dropped by six, to 871. Miscellaneous rigs shrank by one, to five.

The Texas rig count fell by two, to 914.

In North Texas' natural gas-rich Barnett Shale, there were 59 rigs drilling on Friday, up seven from a week earlier, according to RigData. The leading counties were Tarrant, 21; Wise, 8; and Johnson, Denton and Montague, 5 each.

As oil prices creep upward, lawmakers in Washington are staking out familiar and competing positions over how to address the rising price of energy.

The Energy Department itself remains tangled in the scandal over failed solar firm Solyndra. Amid signs that gas prices could soon hit an upswing, top Energy officials are distracted preparing for testimony before Congress and answering the House Energy and Commerce Committee's requests for documentation on its renewable energy loan program. 
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 BHP Billiton Ltd. plans to invest roughly US$4.5 billion developing the shale oil and gas assets it bought in the U.S. this financial year as it ramps up production, the head of the mining company's petroleum division said Monday.

BHP expects capital spending to jump to almost US$6 billion in the 2015 fiscal year and roughly US$6.5 billion by 2020 as the company ramps up the number of rigs on its four project areas, Michael Yeager said in a conference call from Melbourne. Read more »