The falling price of crude oil is starting to hit Texas drillers hard, as the state's active rig count fell 2.7 percent in one week - the deepest dip in the nation among major producing states.

Oil field services company Baker Hughes reported in its closely watched weekly rig count Friday that Texas producers had 872 rigs under contract, down from 896 a week earlier. The sharpest cutbacks were in the West Texas Permian Basin, where producers idled 20 rigs over the week.

The statewide week-over-week decline was the steepest Texas has seen since 2009, by percentage and absolute number.

Nationwide, the rig count fell 1.4 percent, from 1,920 to 1,893.

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Rig counts often take three to six months to respond to swings in the oil price market, said R.T. Dukes, a senior analyst at energy research firm Wood Mackenzie, who expects that drilling activity will continue falling off as more rigs complete their contracts.

"We're at a price point low enough now that nobody is happy. Nobody looks good," he said. "The trend is pointing down, and we're entering into a period of new budgets. January and February are the months to watch."

Oil continued its free fall on Friday, with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate dropping $2.14 to $57.81 a barrel - its lowest closing price on the New York Mercantile Exchange in more than five years. Crude started 2014 at $95.44 and reached its high for the year on June 20 at $107.26 - meaning the price is within a few dollars of falling to half its 2014 peak.

The day's losses were triggered in part by news that the International Energy Agency again cut its prediction of global oil demand growth, saying demand will grow by only 900,000 barrels per day next year, 230,000 barrels per day fewer than its previous projection.

Concerns about energy stocks and global demand helped drive a plunge in U.S. stock markets, including a 316-point, 1.8 percent drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Falling oil prices have triggered a wave of cutbacks in the industry. Canadian oil and gas transportation company Enbridge Energy said Friday it has laid off some workers in its Houston offices and other field locations to cut costs. It did not provide a precise count but said the job cuts numbered less than 100.

Earlier this week, Houston-based oil services company Halliburton said it is cutting 1,000 jobs outside North America, and British oil giant BP indicated it would accelerate previously planned layoffs.

Houston independent ConocoPhillips said Monday it will pare its 2015 budget to $13.5 billion from $16.7 billion this year, and other companies also have announced plans to slice exploration and production budgets in the new year.

More Information Friday'sfree fall 1 U.S. benchmark crude: $57.81 a barrel, down $2.14 for the day, $8.03 for the week 1 Dow Jones Industrial Average: 17,281, down 316 for the day, 678 for the week 1 Baker Hughes U.S. rig count: 1,893, down 27 for the week.

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Production appears to be slowing in North Dakota's Bakken Shale, which has made the state a major U.S. oil producer. The state's daily oil output declined by 4,000 barrels in October, to 1.2 million, according to the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

But analysts have said it will take a while for the pullback to translate into enough of an oil supply drop to stabilize prices.

By several estimates, global daily production exceeds demand by 1.5 million barrels. According to a Raymond James analysis, that's about the entire annual oil production growth expected from U.S. oil and gas companies.

Absent unexpected production interruptions or deliberate cutbacks in other countries, U.S. production would have to stop growing to put supply and demand in balance.

And cutbacks underway now won't stop domestic production growth altogether.

The number of rigs operating in the U.S. today remains 111 more than the number operating last year. In Texas, 24 more rigs are drilling than a year ago, this week's drop notwithstanding.

From January to October, the state's oil regulator, the Texas Railroad Commission, permitted 22,778 new wells, up from 18,293 last year, according to the most recent data.

"Those wells don't get completed for another three to six months," said Dukes, the Wood Mackenzie analyst. "You're going to stay along the same growth trajectory for a period of time."

Efficiency gains that have allowed producers to pump more oil from each well have meant that production may stay level even if the number of wells shrinks. ConocoPhillips said it expects to pump 3 percent more oil and gas in 2015 despite the 20 percent cut in funding.

Scott Tinker, director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at Austin, said production increases could average between 5 percent and 20 percent depending on the company and where it's drilling.

And in the low-priced environment, drillers will keep chasing the most productive parts of the plays, Tinker said, because wells in those spots remain profitable even if the oil they provide sells for less than $60.