By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 1 -- US drilling activity continued to decline, with 782 rotary rigs working this week, 10 less than last week and down from 1,151 during the same period last year when the rig count was then climbing toward a peak of 1,293 in early August, officials said Friday at Baker Hughes Inc., Houston.
That falloff is still driven primarily by declines in land operations and drilling for natural gas. Of the rigs working this week, 639 were drilling for gas, 8 fewer than the previous week; while 142 were drilling for oil, down 2 for the week. One rig remained unclassified.
Baker Hughes counted 647 land rigs working this week, 9 fewer than the previous week. There also were 16 rigs drilling inland waters, 1 less than last week. The number of rotary rigs working in the Gulf of Mexico was up 1 to 113, but total US offshore activity was unchanged at 119 working rigs overall.
ODS-Petrodata Group, Houston, reported one less rig under contract in the gulf this week, however. That pushed the rig utilization rate down a half point to 59.2% in those waters, with 119 mobile offshore rigs now contracted out of the 201 available.
Worldwide utilization among mobile offshore rigs dropped below 80% this week, down a half point to 79.8%, with 523 units under contracts out of a total fleet of 655. Activity in European waters remained unchanged at 88.3% utilization, with 91 mobile offshore rigs contracted out of the 103 available.
Among the total US rigs working this week, 226 were involved in directional drilling projects, up 2 from last week. Another 54 rigs were doing horizontal drilling, down 1 in the same period.
Texas and Louisiana led the US decline, down 4 rigs each to 328 and 158, respectively. Wyoming's rig count also was down 1 to 41. Oklahoma gained 3 to 73. Rig counts in the three other major producing states were unchanged, with New Mexico at 37, California at 20, and Alaska at 15.