By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Aug. 29 -- US drilling activity rebounded this week, up by 20 rotary rigs to 1,102 working, wiping out last week's loss and pushing the rig count above 1,100 units for the first time since early October 2001, officials at Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday.
Moreover, utilization of mobile offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico hit 76.3% this week with 132 units under contract, 2 more than the previous week, out of the 173 available for work in those waters. That's the highest utilization rate among offshore rigs in the gulf since Aug. 17, 2001, said officials at ODS-Petrodata, Houston.
Total US drilling activity is up sharply from the 847 rigs that were working during the same period a year ago. Land drilling accounted for this week's rebound, up 20 rigs to 979. The number of offshore rigs actually drilling this week is unchanged at 108 in the Gulf of Mexico but increased by 1 to 111 in US waters as a whole. Drilling in inland waters decreased by 1 rig to 12.
The number of rigs drilling in Canada increased this week to 407, up from 396 the previous week and 265 a year ago.
Among US rigs, those drilling for natural gas increased by 16 to 944, while the number drilling for oil is up by 5 to 154. There are 4 rigs unclassified. US directional drilling increased by 1 rig to 282, but horizontal drilling is down by 3 rigs to 102.
Oklahoma led the rebound in US drilling activity, up by 12 rigs with 145 working. Texas has 491 rigs turning to the right, 8 more than the previous week. Wyoming's rig count increased by 6 to 66, and Alaska is up 1 to 6. Drilling activity in California is unchanged, with 24 rigs working.
Louisiana's rig count is down by 4 to 149 this week, and New Mexico dipped by 2 to 63.
In European waters, the number of mobile offshore rigs under contract is down 2 to 81 of the 100 units available for work this week, dropping the utilization rate to 81% for that market. As a result, worldwide utilization among offshore rigs remains unchanged at 81.3% this week, with 532 mobile offshore rigs under contract out of a total fleet of 654, said ODS-Petrodata.