The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the number of U.S. workers employed in the oil and gas extraction industry has begun to increase, after hitting a five-year low in July.

"Oil companies are starting to hire back workers as they add rigs to the shale patch in North America to take advantage of oil prices above $50/bbl," writes World Oil's David Wethe.

He adds that explorers in the U.S. have already added more than 100 rigs since September.

A total of 440,131 oil jobs were lost around the world, with 21% of those layoffs coming from explorers and producers. However, explorers are expected to boost capital expenditures by 7% in 2017.

To read more, see Wethe's full article from World Oil.

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