By the OGJ Online Staff
HOUSTON, Mar. 16--US drilling activity dipped slightly with 1,151 rotary rigs working this week. That�s down 7 from the previous week but up from 764 during the same period a year ago, said officials at Baker Hughes Inc.
Oklahoma and Louisiana showed the largest declines in activity. Oklahoma�s rig count was down 6 to 131, while Louisiana lost 5 rigs to 225.
New Mexico added 4 rigs, raising its count to 72; and Wyoming was up 2 to 53. Texas gained 1 rig for 455 total working.
There were 458 rigs working in Canada this week, down 76 from the previous week with the seasonal decline, but up from 434 last year.
The ODS-Petrodata Group reported a global net gain of one mobile offshore rig under contract this week. That boosted worldwide utilization slightly to 87.5% with 568 of the mobile marine units contracted out of an available fleet of 649.
However, the Gulf of Mexico utilization rate dipped slightly to 88.1% with the loss of one rig from both the number under contract and the number available. There are now 185 offshore rigs contracted out of a fleet of 210 in those waters.
In European waters, the utilization rate was unchanged at 92.1% with 93 rigs contracted out of 101 available.
