The count for oil fell to 465 from last Friday's 473 tally, while gas dropped by two to 98. Miscellaneous rigs were unchanged at three. The US had 497 oil, 99 gas and four miscellaneous rigs in operation a year earlier, the data showed.

A total of 566 rigs were operating in the US as of Friday, compared with the previous week's tally of 576 and last year's 600.

Among US states, top producer Texas lost five rigs on a weekly basis, while the count in New Mexico, North Dakota, and Oklahoma fell by two each. Ohio added two rigs.

Across North America, the oil and gas rigs count decreased by 17 to 680, with Canada's tally falling by seven to 114.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.9% at $61.74 a barrel in Friday late-afternoon trade, while Brent rose 0.8% to $64.97 a barrel. However, both were on track for weekly declines, with WTI down 0.4% on the week and Brent falling 0.7%.

This week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected US demand to halt uranium enrichment, while there was speculation about potential strikes by Israel on Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, any risk premium was countered by rising expectations of a third straight output increase by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, along with "US fiscal uncertainty and soft demand data" ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, Saxo Bank Head of Commodity Strategy Ole Hansen said in a report published Friday.

"In the short term, sentiment in the US bond market appears to be near peak pessimism, and if yields retreat, crude may find support from improved risk appetite," Hansen said.

Moody's downgraded the US credit rating late on May 16.

Price: 36.76, Change: +0.16, Percent Change: +0.45

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