By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 21 -- US drilling activity rebounded this week, adding 19 rotary rigs for a total of 946 working, up from 750 a year ago, officials at Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday.
The increase was essentially in land drilling, up 20 units with 824 working this week. Drilling in inland waters increased by 1 rig to 18, but offshore activity was down 2 rigs to 99 in the Gulf of Mexico and 104 for the US as a whole.
Canadian drilling activity fell by 83 rigs to 453 with the seasonal spring break up. The current rig count is up from 276 a year ago, however.
Earlier this week, analysts at UBS Warburg LLC in New York reported that large investments in Canadian properties by US independents, combined with high natural gas prices, led to near-record drilling levels in Canada throughout the first quarter of this year. "Canadian activity picked up sharply in late December and has stayed that way throughout the first quarter. Activity is only slightly below what was seen during the record year of 2001. The rig count should start to decline shortly as the spring break up season appears to be upon us," they said in a Mar. 18 report.
In addition, they said, "Many operators have already begun planning for higher than normal spring break up activity, and signs are emerging of plans to expand drilling programs through the summer." They reported spot day rates for rigs remained strong and "should not decline much seasonally into the spring break up and into summer."
US drilling for natural gas increased this week, up 22 rigs to 776. The number of rigs drilling for oil declined by 3 to 167. There were 3 rigs unclassified.
Directional drilling increased by 3 rigs to 243 this week. Horizontal drilling was up 2 to 62.
Louisiana led this week's increase, up 9 rotary rigs to 161. Oklahoma's rig count increased by 2 to 118. Texas and California added 1 rig each, bringing their respective rig counts to 410 and 19. New Mexico, Wyoming, and Alaska were down 1 rig each to 63, 39, and 11, respectively.
ODS-Petrodata, Houston, reported the number of contracted rigs and the total fleet of mobile offshore rigs available in the Gulf of Mexico decreased by 1 each this week. That put fleet utilization at 67.2% in those waters, with 123 rigs contracted out of 183.
The rig fleet in European waters also decreased by 1 unit to 99, but the number of contracted rigs remained at 83, for a utilization rate of 83.8% this week.
Worldwide, the total fleet of mobile offshore rigs increased by 1 to 659, while the number of contracted rigs was up 2 to 531, for a global utilization rate of 80.6%.