North American drilling activity registered a healthy increase for the week ended May 5, with 833 rotary rigs working in the US and another 170 in Canada.
The Baker Hughes Inc. rig count for the US is up 35 from the previous week and a whopping 328 from a year ago. Canada's rig count increased by 44 this week and 115 over last year.
Texas led the US rebound with 309 rotary rigs working, 12 more than last week. Louisiana was up 10 to 187, while Oklahoma gained 4 to 92. New Mexico was down 1 to 67, however.
Natural gas drove the US rebound, with 632 rigs drilling for gas this week, 34 more than the previous week.
The US rig count averaged 805 during April, up 32 from an average 773 in March and up 309 from the 496 averaged in April 1999. The average Canadian rig count for April was 146, down sharply from an average 394 in March because of the seasonal breakup with the spring thaw. However, this April's average was up 84 from a year ago.
Baker Hughes also reported an average 602 rigs working outside the US and Canada during April, 4 less than in March but up the same amount from the 598 average in April 1999.
Worldwide, the average number of rigs working in April was 1,553, down 220 or 12% from March but up 397 or 34% from last year, Baker Hughes officials reported Friday.