Oil down 1 percent, reversing early gains, as U.S. rig count rises

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil reversed early gains to fall 1 percent on Friday afternoon after the U.S. oil rig count rose for the first time in 5 weeks.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 50 cents at $34.45 a barrel by 1:10 p.m. EST (1830 GMT). It was up 1 percent earlier.

Global crude benchmark Brent slid 38 cents to $36.68, heading back towards its session low of $36.41, which was just 21 cents above a 2004 bottom.

U.S. energy firms added 17 oil rigs in the week ended Dec. 18, bringing the total rig count up to 541, oil services company Baker Hughes Inc said in its report. [RIG/U]

That was the first rise in the U.S. oil rig count in the last five weeks and came despite continued weak crude prices.

(Addtional reporting by Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo, Henning Gloystein and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Singapore and Karolin Schaps in London; Editing by Paul Simao and Chris Reese)